


The Errol Chronicles

by Grey_wonderer



Category: Lord of the Rings (2001 2002 2003)
Genre: Errol, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-24
Updated: 2010-05-24
Packaged: 2017-10-09 16:51:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/89596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grey_wonderer/pseuds/Grey_wonderer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For some time now, I have wanted to put all of these stories together and in order.  These are all stories involving an OC of mine, Errol.  Errol is a grey, stuffed rabbit that belonged to Peregrin Took when he was a child.  I originally put the Rabbit in a story called, "Merry's Doorway" thinking it would be the only story involving Errol, but over time, Errol has found his way into several stories.  Each Chapter can be read on its own as all were originally posted that way.  This is just my effort to collect them into one group and put them in order.  GW</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Perfect Gift

**Author's Note:**

> The characters, except for a certain Rabbit, are all the creations of J. R. R. Tolkien. No profit is being made from any of these stories. Some, but not all, of the chapters have had the good fortune to have been beta'd by Marigold and/or by Llinos. I am very thankful to both of them for all of their efforts. Unfortunately, not all of the chapters were Beta'd so all mistakes are mine. The Beta, if any, for each chapter, is noted at its beginning. Thank you for reading! GW

This story was written at the request of 'pathvain aelien' who wanted to know how Pippin got his stuffed rabbit, Errol.   
Errol first appeared in the story called, "Merry's Doorway". I never thought he'd turn up in any of my other stories, but he did. Anyway, you don't have to read any of the others in order to read this one. This is ten-year-old Merry, nearly two-year-old Pippin and twenty-four-year-old Frodo in Buckland. Hope you enjoy it.

*****

"The Perfect Gift"

"What does he want?" Frodo frowned, bouncing the small child on his knee and watching as the little one kept looking back toward that other room and frowning. The child was making grunting noises and struggling to be let down.

"How should I know?" Merry sighed. "Maybe he knows that all of the food will be in there in a few minutes."

Frodo laughed. "That is probably it, Merry-lad. Even though he's a bit too young for some of it, I am sure that this little handful will be more than willing to eat his share of it once the meal is on the table." Frodo looked down into the small face of his captive and smiled. "Are you hungry, Peregrin?"

The little one fidgeted and opened his mouth and said, "Bah, wah, gah!" Peregrin then stared intently at Frodo as if he expected a response to this gibberish. When Frodo only continued to smile, Peregrin struggled harder setting the tiny bells on his trousers to jingling and yelled out, "Roh! Roh!"

Ten-year-old Merry snickered. "Whatever he wants I don't think that you are doing it because he doesn't look happy."

"Well, you're no help in all of this," Frodo said. "I haven't been around this tiny one very much but I know that he has spent a great deal of time here at the Hall. Why is it that you don't know what he wants?"

"Because, I don't really care what he wants," Merry sighed. "Why did you say you'd watch him anyway? We could be doing something if you hadn't taken him." Merry frowned at him while the baby continued to struggle and whimper.

"Dow, dow, ow, gi," Peregrin chirped.

"I offered because your mum was busy with the meal," Frodo said. "And I haven't spent much time with little Peregrin. I thought it might be nice to get acquainted."

"Yes, well, I can see how that's going," Merry sulked.

Frodo sighed and stood up with the baby in his arms and peered intently at the small angry face. "What do you want?" he asked, in desperation.

The child's lower lip trembled and his small green eyes stared back at Frodo. "MY!" he blurted waving his tiny fist in the air and leaning away from Frodo.

"Maybe he needs changed," Merry suggested, half-heartedly. "If he does, then I am not helping. I didn't say that I would watch him. You did and so if he's done that, then you will have to take care of it." Merry folded his arms over his chest and looked up at his favorite cousin.

"It isn't that," Frodo said. "He doesn't seem to have done anything of that nature." He patted the child on the rump and smiled at him. "He wants something, though and I've no idea what it is."

"Bugh! My!" Peregrin yelled out and smacked Frodo on the side of the face making Merry giggle.

"It isn't funny," Frodo objected. "It must be frustrating for the little child not to be able to make anyone understand what he wants." Frodo said, taking the child's hand in his to avoid another smack.

"Then he should learn to talk," Merry said.

Peregrin leaned sideways in Frodo's arms and looked at Merry and yelled, "Ro! MY!"

Merry glared at the child and said, firmly, "Behave! No one is getting you anything!"

Peregrin's lower lip trembled and then he scrunched up his face and whined, "Meeeee!"

"That hardly helped, Merry," Frodo sighed.

Walking past them with a mug of ale in one hand and a grin on his face, Bilbo said, "Walk him back and forth and bounce him a bit. Babies love that sort of nonsense."

Before Frodo could suggest that Bilbo take the child since he knew what babies liked, Bilbo disappeared around the corner. With a long-suffering sigh, Frodo began to pace back and forth and bounce the child who jingled with each motion, in the hope that Bilbo was right. Merry fell in step beside of him and watched the baby to see what would happen. Meanwhile, the baby continued to struggle and twist making it very hard for Frodo to hang onto him. "He's strong for a tiny baby isn't he?" Frodo said, annoyed.

Merry smirked. "He's spoilt. If he opens his mouth then someone does something for him. They're all entirely too nice to him. You aren't getting what he wants and so he's acting up."

"If I knew what he wanted then I would gladly get it," Frodo said. "I am tired of wrestling with him."

"Next time, instead of offering to take him, maybe you'll do something with me," Merry said, smugly.

"R0! EEEEEEEEEEE!" Peregrin squealed and nearly managed to fling himself out of Frodo's arms as he reached in the direction of the dining area.

"Now, you have to stop that, Peregrin," Frodo sighed. "Come on, Merry," he continued, looking down at his younger cousin's amused face. "Let's walk him into the dining room and maybe he will settle down a bit."

"See?" Merry said. "He always gets what he wants." He grudgingly followed Frodo.

As they reached the dining room Peregrin began to giggle and wave his arms. His entire face was glowing now and his eyes sparkled. "Ero!" he shouted, joyfully.

"I'm glad to have that settled," Frodo said, still having trouble holding onto the wiggling child.

Merry snorted. "He's spoilt!" he declared. "You'd think it was his birthday and not Aunt Geranium's."

"I suspect that he doesn't know that it's anyone birthday at all, Merry," Frodo smiled. "He's too little to understand much."

"He understands what makes folks do what it is that he wants them to do," Merry said, arching an eyebrow at the baby. "I think he knows stuff even if he can't say much."

It was Frodo's turn to snicker. "You do, do you? So you think that this tiny imp is plotting something, do you?"

"Laugh if you want, but I've watched him," Merry said. "He knows stuff. He's annoying, but he's clever."

As Merry made this pronouncement, Peregrin stuck one finger up his own nose and gurgled.

"He's a regular genius," Frodo said, grinning.

"He does stuff like that just to fool you," Merry said, glaring at the baby. "I'm on to him and I have been since the first time you made me hold him. I knew then that he was trouble."

"Well, he seems just fine now," Frodo smiled, grinning at the baby.

Just then, Peregrin began to wave his arms about and struggle again. The tiny bells on his trousers were jingling like mad now. He seemed to be trying to climb over Frodo's shoulder. "EEEE! Roh! MY!"

Merry laughed. "I warned you, but no one listens to me about anything," Merry said.

Frustrated, Frodo turned to look behind him to see what the child might be trying to reach and as he did so, Peregrin screamed.

"What?" Frodo asked, the annoyance plain in his voice. "What do you want?"

"E-roh!" Peregrin crowed, waving at a chair in the corner of the room.

Frodo looked at the chair and frowned. Someone had tossed a coat over the arm of the chair. There was a bag of hard candy sitting beside of the chair leg, a box with handkerchiefs inside of it lay on the chair, an umbrella leaned against it, a paper hat that Bilbo had made for one of the little lasses sat on the chair, and something that was still wrapped in gift paper sat next to it. It looked as if the package might have been opened earlier but now it was covered up by paper and tossed aside. Under the edge of the chair was a large red ball. "Get that ball, Merry," Frodo said, hopefully. "That looks like something that he might like."

Sighing as if he'd been asked to move all of the furniture in the room, Merry walked over and retrieved the ball. "Here, but he won't like it," Merry said as he handed the ball to Frodo.

"Of course he will," Frodo said. "Little ones love balls."

"That one doesn't," Merry said, knowingly and sure enough, Peregrin began to pull away and whimper as Frodo held up the ball.

"Peregrin, don't you like the ball?" Frodo asked. "Look it bounces!" He dropped it to the floor and let it bounce back up into his hand and Peregrin buried his face in Frodo's shoulder and whined. Frodo let the ball drop and kicked it gently underneath the chair where it had been and looked questioningly at Merry. "Why doesn't he like balls?"

"I was tossing one in the parlor the other day and I may have hit him in the head with it once or twice," Merry said in an off-hand manner. "It was only a little tap on the head, but now he doesn't like balls very much."

Frodo glared at him. "You could have mentioned that, you know."

"I told you he wouldn't like it, but you didn't listen," Merry said.

"So you did," Frodo admitted as Peregrin looked up and reached for the chair and yelled again.

"Well, Meriadoc, you're the expert," Frodo said. "What would your guess be? Oh, and before you begin, I am not giving him the umbrella!"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE," Peregrin yelled, reaching for the chair.

"He might want the candy, but he's too little for it," Merry said, thoughtfully. "Mum says I can't give him hard candy because he'd choke on it."

"Well, it can't be the handkerchiefs," Frodo said.

"He wants my gift!" Merry said, looking at the baby accusingly. "He wants the present that Aunt Geri gave me!"

"Your gift?" Frodo frowned, looking back at the half wrapped package on the chair.

"He squealed when I opened it before," Merry growled. "It was mine and she gave him a gift but now he wants mine too!"

"What is it?' Frodo asked. "I believe that I was outside having a pipe with Bilbo when she gave out the children's gifts."

"EEEE!" Peregrin said, squirming.

"It's nothing much, but it is mine and so he can't have it," Merry said, fiercely. He folded his arms over his chest and stared sternly at the baby.

Peregrin leaned against Frodo's shoulder and sniffled. Frodo stroked the little one's soft curls and looked at Merry. "I understand," Frodo said. 'It is your gift from Aunt Geri and it is probably too grown up for Peregrin anyway."

Merry fidgeted and looked at the floor, taking one of his toes and moving it in a circle. "She did mean it for me," he muttered.

"Of course she did," Frodo agreed. "This little one has to learn that not everything here belongs to him. You may be right about that spoiling thing, you know. Adults do tend to go all soft in the head around babies."

Merry gave a quick glance at the chair and then mumbled, "I didn't exactly like it anyway."

"What's that, Merry?" Frodo asked, not sure he'd heard correctly.

"Well, it's just that she's rather old and a bit muddled at times and I don't think she remembered how old I am when she bought it," Merry said, looking at the baby now. "I mean, I am too old for it. I'm ten now and it isn't a proper gift for a lad my age but mum pulled my ear and made me say thank you all the same as if I really liked it. Then Berilac and the others laughed at me and made fun."

Frodo frowned. "I suppose that she doesn't realize how grown up you are," he said. "But I am very sure that she didn't mean any harm. Your mum was right to insist that you be polite about it, whatever it was." Frodo glanced over at the package wondering what it might contain.

"Ra! Er! Mymymymymy!" Peregrin said, reaching for the chair again.

"Determined, aren't you?" Frodo sighed. "Well, it isn't yours and you are just going to have to accept that, my little lad." Frodo tweaked the child's pointed nose and then looked at Merry. "What did she give him?"

"That ball," Merry sighed, looking underneath the chair. "He screamed and cried so that Pearl had to take him out of the room after that."

"I see," Frodo said, trying not to laugh. "So Aunt Geranium thinks that ball is a proper gift for a two-year-old-"

"He's not two yet," Merry corrected.

"Right," Frodo said. "I can see, now that you've told me your story about that ball hitting him in the head, why he didn't want this one. I guess there would have been no way for Aunt Geri to know that at the time she selected his gift."

"She's not terribly good at picking out gifts," Merry said, stiffly. "Mine was all wrong as well." He glared over at the package. "Berilac will tease me all week about that gift."

"May I know what it is?" Frodo ask gently.

Merry looked down and mumbled something.

"What did you say?" Frodo asked, gently.

"It's an old stuff toy like you'd expect a baby to have," Merry said, embarrassed.

"I see," Frodo said. "That explains why Peregrin wants it and it also explains why you don't."

"It also explains why I am going to be teased," Merry growled.

"Mymymymymy!" Peregrin howled and reached for the chair.

"Oh, all right!" Merry said, crossly. He stalked over to the chair and retrieved the package as Frodo sat down on the floor with the child sitting in front of him. Peregrin continued to squirm and reach for the chair and so Frodo had to hold on to him. The little one could crawl if he were given the chance. Frodo had seen him do it and the little hobbit was quite fast.

Merry returned with the package and laid it in front of Peregrin and said, "It's a baby toy anyhow and you are a baby so I suppose that you can have it."

Peregrin looked at Merry intently and crowed, "Meee! Mymymy!"

"Yes, it's yours now," Merry answered him, pushing the package toward the child.

Peregrin worked with the paper clumsily, tearing bits of it off and tossing them behind him so that they landed on Frodo while Merry smirked. The little child's face was very serious as he tried to get the package open. After a few minutes, Merry sighed and reached over to help. "Do I have to do everything for you?" he asked, as Peregrin sat up and left the unwrapping to Merry, smacking his hands together and cooing.

"Here," Merry said, finally and he held out a very large, stuffed, grey, rabbit with black button eyes and floppy ears.

Peregrin bounced on his rump on the floor and held out his arms with excitement. "Mymymymymy!" He wrapped his arms tightly about the rabbit and rubbed his nose on its fur. "E-rol!" he crowed. "Mymymymymy!"

Merry rolled his eyes and then said, "Now I'm spoiling him too!"

"I have an idea," Frodo smiled. "But you will have to keep an eye on Peregrin for a few minutes if it is to work."

Merry sighed. "What are you going to do?" he asked, as Frodo slid the little hobbit over so that Merry could hold onto him.

"I may have a way to fix everything if you'll give me about ten minutes, Merry," Frodo said.

Merry looked at the little child who was hugging the rabbit and cooing into its fur. "Well, all right, but if he does anything messy while you're away, I am saving it for you," Merry said, putting the child on his lap.

Frodo grinned. "That is fair enough." He then left the room.

_________________________________________________________________

Frodo hadn't returned until it was time for the birthday lunch, but Merry hadn't minded because Peregrin had gone off to sleep holding the rabbit in his arms and had not made any mess or been any trouble. Merry's mum had taken the baby and put him in a crib near the table along with the rabbit and everyone had been seated at the table. Across from Merry, Berilac hissed, "Where's your bunny, Merry?"

Merry had glared at him and whispered back, " How would you like it if I stuffed that bunny down your throat?"

Frodo quickly seated himself beside of Merry and said, "Just wait."

Merry gave him a puzzled look, but had no time to ask what he was to wait for because his Aunt Geranium was standing at the head of the table ready to give her birthday speech.

"I am old," Geranium began and everyone laughed. "I have been old for quite some time now, but I don't mind it so very much. In fact I am rather pleased to have made it this far and to have seen all that I have seen and done all that I have done. I do want to thank all of you for a very lovely birthday, particularly Esmeralda, for having this wonderful party for me." She paused and everyone was beginning to think that she was finished and that they might get down to the business of eating when she cleared her throat and said, "Because I am rather old, I sometimes forget things or mix them up a bit and so I have to apologize to one of my favorite nephews before we begin our meal." She leaned forward, steadying herself by leaning a hand on the table. "Merry, I am afraid that I mislabeled your gift. That stuffed rabbit was supposed to go to the baby, but I am having a bit of trouble remembering his name and so I must have written yours instead."

Merry looked at her intently unable to say anything at all. "I had wrapped a pipe to give to you, but I seem to have left it at home in all the fuss. I have no idea who that red ball was meant for," she said with a sigh. "I do hope you will forgive me."

Merry stood and nodded. "Yes, Aunt Geranium. A real pipe?" he asked, in amazement.

"Yes," she said, with a twinkle in her eyes. "I had thought that you were nearer to sixteen than you are."

Frodo watched as Merry swelled with pride at this statement.

"As I have made a mess of things, perhaps you will accept a bit of coin instead," she said, laying some change on the table. Merry looked at his mum who nodded her approval and then quickly made his way around the table to collect the change and give his Aunt a hug while Berilac watched jealously and Frodo smiled.

_______________________________________________________________________

"Did I do that properly," Aunt Geranium asked, Frodo when they were seated alone in the parlor. Just outside of the room in the hallway, Merry was gloating a bit to Berilac and several other lads, all of whom were giving Merry their full attention and quite a bit of respect.

"You were wonderful," Frodo said, giving her hand a firm squeeze. "It couldn't have gone better."

"Well, I was worried about what Esmeralda might think of that pipe idea of yours, but since I didn't actually give the lad a pipe I suspect that all is well for now," she chuckled. "I really did think he was much younger, you know."

"I know," Frodo said. "There are so many of us that it's hard to keep it all straight, isn't it?"

"It is, unless you have a wise young lad like you for assistance," she said, smiling at him. "That was very thoughtful of you. Now, young Meriadoc feels better and I don't look like a such an old fool for giving him that rabbit."

"You could never look like a fool, Aunt Geri," Frodo assured her.

"We both know that all of you Bagginses are sweet talkers, Frodo," Geranium laughed. "You have dear Bilbo's way with the ladies, I suspect." She winked at him.

Frodo blushed slightly and said, "There's no one quite like Bilbo."

"I suspect that Merry thinks that of you about now," she said, looking out at the lad in the hallway with his cousins.

"And all of this started out as a way to keep little Peregrin from crying," Frodo said, with a sigh. "That little one is quite a handful."

________________________________________________________________

It was late and Merry was supposed to be in bed, but he had crept into the nursery and was leaning over the side of Peregrin's crib and whispering to the baby who was looking up at him happily with an arm about the large, grey, bunny. "Maybe you are useful some of the time," Merry said. "If you hadn't carried on about that rabbit, then Frodo wouldn't have spoken to Aunt Geranium and straightened things out the way he did."

The baby kicked a foot and gurgled and Merry continued. "Frodo went out to see if maybe she might be willing to trade the rabbit for the ball so Berilac wouldn't be able to tease me and that's when he found out that Aunt Geri meant to give me a pipe on account of she thinks I'm older than I am," Merry said, proudly. "Berilac is so jealous! Naturally, mum won't let me have a pipe until I'm older, but I can buy loads of sweets with the money that Aunt Geri gave me and Berilac is ever so jealous because I look older than him and I'm not."

"Mee," Peregrin said, kicking again.

Merry grinned. "I don't care what they think, you know. I know that you're lots smarter than they realize and even smarter than you let on. You can't fool me, you little Pip Squeak. You wanted this old rabbit and so you figured out how to get it, didn't you?"

The baby giggled and hugged the rabbit even tighter.

"I thought so," Merry said, with a smile. "Just don't try anything on me because I know all about you. You're tricky." He turned to go and the baby whined softly.

Merry looked back and said, "Oh, all right. Thank you for helping out today, but I do know that you only did it to get that rabbit. This may be the first time that you and I have worked on something together, but I do know perfectly well that you got what you wanted out of it too."

E-roh!" Peregrin crowed, grinning up at Merry.

"That is a very strange name for a stuffed rabbit, Peregrin," Merry said. "But if you insist on calling it Errol, than I suspect that you'll get your way. You always do."

The End

G.W. (originally written 05/15/2005)


	2. Merry's Doorway

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was actually the first story that I wrote involving Errol, the stuffed Rabbit.

Merry's Doorway

 

There he stands in my doorway, clutching a very large stuffed rabbit who's name is Errol. I have no idea why the rabbit's name is Errol, but it is. He is looking at me with those green eyes of his and bitting his lower lip as he sways from foot to foot.

He won't come in because I've told him not to do so. I've told him that I am going to sleep and that he is to go back to his room. I am going to sleep. I have my eyes closed now, but I know he is looking at me. I can always tell when someone is staring at me and he is staring. He won't come in but he hasn't left yet. He is hoping that I will change my mind and let him sleep in here tonight, but I won't.

I know if I let him come in this time, that I won't be able to get rid of him. He and that large rabbit will be here every night taking up most of the room in my bed and squirming about and asking me questions. Not the rabbit of course, the child.

Peregrin Took will be in my bedroom for good and all if I let him. It is enough that he follows my every step all day long. I do not need him sleeping in my room. I am nearly grown now and shouldn't be bothered with a four-year-old child. I am thirteen in fact which is very nearly grown even if adults don't know this, other lads do.

I am fairly certain that he is afraid of the dark and I know that he hates to sleep alone. I used to be afraid when I was five, but I out-grew that nonsense pretty quick. I used to bother my older cousin Frodo Baggins the way that Peregrin is bothering me now. I used to come into his room and get into his bed and he would protect me. Now I'm a big lad and I can protect myself. Now Frodo can sleep undisturbed. I will also sleep undisturbed as soon as Peregrin gives up and goes to bed. I am pretending to sleep now so he will go away.

I am much older now but I am, most certainly, not a baby-minder. I open one eye to a very small slit so that I can peek out and he is there. Still there in my doorway with that rabbit! I can't see him too well because it is very dark and he is very small, but he is there. I can hear him sniffling and I know that he is probably crying, but I have to be strong. I have to hold my ground. I must ignore him completely.

The small hobbit lad in the doorway sniffles again and then starts to turn around, dragging the feet of the big, stuffed rabbit behind him as he goes. I can hear sound of his tiny feet on the wooden floor as he leaves. He is talking to the rabbit now. "It's all right Errol. It's not that dark. We'll be fine. We don't need that old Merry to sleep with us. We're brave because I'm a big lad now." The voice is shaky and unconvincing. If Errol the rabbit has any sense at all in that big stuffed head of his he knows that Pippin is lying. They are in big trouble and Pippin knows that.

Sadly, I know how much trouble they are in too. "Pipsqueak?"

I hear the sounds of his feet as he runs to the door. He is standing there waiting for me to say something more. "Yes, Merry? Did you call me? I was just g-going to my bed like you said for me to go before when I was here."

"Get in here and bring that goofy rabbit with you," I say, trying to sound grouchy.

More patter of feet thumping through my room and he sails into my bed faster than I would have believed was possible pulling the rabbit with him. He is instantly burrowing down under my blankets and putting his cold toes on my leg. "Now, you lay still and you don't say anything because I am very sleepy. Do you understand, Pip?" I need to get things settled.

He is nodding now because I told him not to speak. I go on. "This is the only time I am letting you sleep in here so don't get used to it. Do you understand?" More nodding and what might be a smile, but it's too dark to tell. "Good, now go to sleep."

He pulls in close to me while gripping the rabbit in his arms and snuggles. "I know I'm not 'sposed to say nothing, Merry, but Errol wants to thank you for letting us stay. He was afeart of the dark."

I sigh. "Well, Errol is only a rabbit and sometimes they do get frightened," I say, playing along.

"Errol is sorry he's lots of trouble and keeps you awake, Merry," he says, softly. "I just, Errol just feels safer in here with you than in that other dark room."

I am growing up because now I'm big enough to protect someone. I suppose that's a good thing. "Tell Errol that I don't mind and if he really is that scared, then he can sleep in here while he is visiting Brandy Hall as long as he's quiet."

"Oh, Merry, Errol is always quiet," He says as if I should know this. I do know this but I wasn't too sure that the Pipsqueak did.

"Good, then he can stay," I say, thinking that is the end of it, but no, there's more. With Peregrin Took there is always more.

"Merry?"

"What?"

"Are you asleep yet?"

"No."

"Can I sleep here too or just Errol? Because I'm not very quiet sometimes and Pearl says I talk too much at night even after I'm not sposed to but I do cause I can't help it, I just do. Can I Merry?" He stops to breathe and turns to face me in the dark with Errol the rabbit now between us. "Please?"

"Yes, Pip, you can stay too," I say and I give him a hug because he is little and he needs me.

 

The End

 

GW


	3. A Tisket, A Tasket

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My attempt at an Easter story.

Bilbo is 106, Frodo is 28, Merry is 14 and Pippin is 6.

"A Tisket, A Tasket"

Frodo had searched most of Bag End when he finally found Pippin in Bilbo's mathom room. The six-year-old child was busy working on something and didn't bother to look up when Frodo entered the room closely followed by Merry. The two of them walked over to where Pippin sat on the dusty floor and leaned over to see what the child was doing.

Pippin had located a rather large wicker basket with a handle and was humming to himself as he filled the bottom of the basket with grass that he had obviously brought in from the garden. Merry wrinkled up his nose and frowned as he stood there watching his little cousin work. "What are you doing?" Merry asked. "We've looked all over for you."

"I was right here," Pippin said looking up at Merry and displaying a rather dirty little face.

"You are a mess," Frodo informed the child and knelt down next to his cousin. "Where did you get that grass?"

"Outside," Pippin said putting another handful of it into the basket and gently patting it into place.

"Where outside?" Frodo asked wondering exactly what part of the garden Pippin had been digging up.

"I don't remember," Pippin shrugged. "It grows all over out there and I just stopped somewhere while I was outside and pulled it up. It's tougher than it looks to pull up grass. It breaks off in your hands and so you have to do a bit of digging if you want to get a good bunch of it."

"So, you've been digging in the garden again?" Frodo frowned. The little hobbit had been warned not to dig up the garden but it was becoming clear that he hadn't listened very closely to the warning.

"I guess so," Pippin nodded as he ignored Frodo and Merry and continued to put grass into the basket.

"You guess so," Merry sighed and rolled his eyes. "The Gaffer will kill him, Frodo."

"Maybe he didn't do too much damage, Merry," Frodo said. He couldn't help but notice that Pippin had quite a bit of grass so in all likelihood the child had damaged something. Somewhere out there where they're had once been grass, there was now a large brown patch of dirt and that patch of dirt would turn to mud with the first rain. "Did you take all of that grass from the same area, Pippin?" Frodo asked turning to the child again.

"Most of it," Pippin said. "But there's plenty of grass left out there, Frodo so if anyone needs any I didn't take it all. I only got enough for the basket."

"Pippin, why are you filling that basket with grass?" Frodo asked.

Pippin looked up at his older cousin and a smile crossed his dirty little face. His eyes sparkled and he stood up beside of the basket. "It's going to be a nest! I'm making it all by myself just like Sam says that aminals make them only this one isn't exactly like that because aminals don't have baskets, do they?"

Merry snickered.

"No, animals don't have baskets," Frodo said smiling. "What kind of a nest did Sam tell you to build?"

"Oh, he didn't tell me to build it," Pippin said shaking his head and looking serious. "He just told me about nests. I thought up the idea to build it myself. Sam just told me how aminals build nests."

Merry snorted. "Sam may have to explain this one to the Gaffer."

"Hush, Merry," Frodo sighed. He then looked down at the basket. It was a very old wicker basket and it had probably been sitting unused in Bilbo's mathom room for a very long time so Frodo didn't think that Bilbo would be at all upset about the fact that Pippin was stuffing grass into it. At least that was hopeful.

"Well, Sam's gone and told the Pip Squeak about nests and now this is the result," Merry continued. "You've got a messy child and a dirty old basket full of grass in your smial not to mention the fact that the Gaffer is going to be upset when he finds out that Pippin has pulled up his grass."

"He will not!" Pippin challenged looking fiercely at Merry. "Aminals come and get the Gaffer's grass all the time so he won't mind if I have some for this basket!"

"In spite of the way you look, you are not an animal," Merry said.

"Frodo, aren't Hobbits aminals?" Pippin asked mispronouncing the word. He never said it correctly in spite of having received corrections on it in the past. Frodo and Merry had quit trying to sort it out.

"Hobbits are, well, Hobbits are different from aminals, uh, that is animals, Pippin," Frodo said. "It isn't the same."

"Did my momma make a nest when she had me?" Pippin asked.

Merry covered his mouth with both hands and turned his back on the child. He was trying his best not to laugh but it was very difficult. Frodo bit his lower lip and then said, "Hobbits don't build nests, Pippin."

"Sam says they do," Pippin frowned.

"Just what did Sam tell you?" Frodo asked.

"He said that all aminals build nests," Pippin said. "He said that in a way a smial is like a nest for Hobbits cause a nest is sort of the aminal's home and a smial is our home." Pippin smiled. "Sam didn't say anything about grass and all but when I was born did my momma build a nest out of grass or was I born in the smial without any grass?"

Frodo grinned at the child. "Hobbits don't have their babies in nests, Pippin. You were born in a smial."

"Oh," Pippin seemed disappointed by this. "Well, aminals have to have nests don't they?"

"Lots of animals do, yes," Frodo said.

"Bunnies?" Pippin asked. "Sam says bunnies like a grassy place that's hid to have babies in."

"Sam's right about that," Frodo assured the child.

Pippin beamed and then set to work on the basket again.

"Peregrin Took, do you have a bunny in this smial?" Frodo frowned suddenly worried that the child had somehow captured a live rabbit and brought it inside.

"Of course I do," Pippin said. "I brought it with me when I came here."

"You had a bunny with you when you arrived?" Frodo asked.

"He was in my pack, Frodo," Pippin sighed and the child attempted to roll his eyes like he had so often seen Merry do. "I always bring Errol when I come here."

Relief flooded Frodo. There was no live rabbit hopping about Bag End leaving behind little bunny droppings and eating from the pantry. Pippin was referring to his favorite stuffed toy, a big floppy-eared grey rabbit that the little child had named Errol for some unknown reason. "The nest is for Errol," Frodo said.

Pippin nodded. "I got the idea on account of what Sam said about aminals building nests to sleep in and to have babies in. I want Errol to have a nest like the bunnies that live outside and so I'm fixing it for him." Pippin then leaned forward and put a finger to his lips. "It's a surprise," Pippin whispered far too loudly. For some reason whenever Pippin whispered he was actually louder than if he had simply used his normal voice.

"Where is Errol now?" Frodo asked looking about and not seeing the large rabbit.

"I put him in Merry's room to wait so he wouldn't see me making his nest and spoil the surprise," Pippin explained.

"You put that rabbit in my room?" Merry scowled.

"Well, he sleeps in there with me when I sleep with you which I did last night and so Errol won't be upset in there," Pippin said mistaking Merry's reaction as some sort of concern for the rabbit. "Errol likes your room, Merry."

"He likes it a bit too much if you ask me," Merry said. "You and that rabbit never sleep anywhere else when we come here."

Pippin, finish fixing Errol's basket, er, nest and then come with me," Frodo said gently. "You have to clean up for luncheon. Bilbo will not let you near the table looking as you do now."

Merry reached over a pulled a twig out of Pippin's hair. "You hair looks like a bird's nest," Merry observed.

"It's only a few sticks and leaves in there," Pippin sighed and then went back to work on the nest.

The child finished quickly and allowed Frodo and Merry to take him to wash up before luncheon. He left the basket in the mathom room so that Errol, the stuffed rabbit, wouldn't find it. "Errol won't go in that room alone. He's a wee bit feart of it in there," Pippin said knowingly.

Immediately after luncheon, Pippin raced into Merry's room and scooped up his rabbit. He took Errol into the mathom room and proceeded to place the large rabbit into the large basket of grass. Merry frowned at Frodo and whispered, "He sleeps in my bed with the rabbit and he's getting grass all over it. Shouldn't we stop him?"

"Merry, relax," Frodo smiled. "The grass will brush off and by tomorrow Pippin will be tired of playing with that basket full of grass. It will all be forgotten."

"I hope you're right because I don't want little bugs like the sort that crawl around in grass crawling around in my bed at night," Merry shivered. "You don't have to sleep with them, er, Pippin and that rabbit."

Frodo's prediction was completely incorrect. Three days later, Pippin was still putting Errol into the basket during the day and then pulling him out and sleeping with him at night. So far, Merry had not found any bugs in the bed but he was still not at all pleased with this new arrangement. Pippin, who had enjoyed the basket of grass and had seemed excited by it all, was becoming a bit cross for some reason but the child wouldn't say what was wrong.

Frodo found him in the yard the next day along with the basket and Errol. Pippin was filling the basket with fresh grass.

"Peregrin Took, you are pulling up the grass again," Frodo said trying to sound stern.

"I had to get new grass, Frodo," Pippin said looking a bit desperate. "The other grass turned all brown and dry and so it's no wonder that Errol, well, that he didn't like it anymore so I'm getting him new grass for his nest."

Frodo sighed and looked at Errol who was currently leaning against the basket while Pippin freshened it up. "Pippin, is something the matter?" Frodo asked. "You seem a bit worried about something."

"No," Pippin lied pulling at the grass. "I'm not worried. Everything will work fine now. You'll see."

"What will work fine?" Frodo asked.

"Everything," Pippin supplied. "It's a surprise."

"Another surprise for Errol?" Frodo asked in a whisper as if trying not to allow the rabbit to over hear.'

"No, Errol knows all about it," Pippin said sharply. "He knows and it will be fine now."

Pippin would say no more about it and finished filling up the basket, put Errol back into it and took him inside.

Later that evening Merry woke to find that Pippin was no longer in bed. He was alone with an arm around Errol. He hated when that happened and he was extremely glad that no one had come in and seen him sleeping with Pippin's rabbit. Wondering what could have happened to his little cousin and knowing full well from experience that Pippin could be into almost anything, Merry climbed out of bed and went in search of the child. His first stop proved correct. Pippin was in the kitchen.

"What are you doing up?" Merry demanded.

"Getting something," Pippin announced. He had both hands hidden behind his back.

"What are you getting?" Merry asked moving a few steps closer to the child.

"Just something I need," Pippin shrugged but his hands didn't come out from behind his back.

"What have you got?" Merry demanded. "Are you stealing biscuits again?"

"No," Pippin said quickly.

"Show me your hands," Merry instructed.

"But-"

"Show me both of your hands now or I am waking Bilbo," Merry said sternly.

Pippin bit his lip and slowly brought his hands out from behind his back. There was an egg in each one of them.

"What are you doing with those eggs?" Merry demanded.

"They're for Errol," Pippin said. "I don't think he can do this on his own Merry and so I'm just helping him."

"Helping him do what?" Merry asked.

"Errol has had plenty of time in his nest but it isn't working and so I'm going to put these eggs in with him and then he can sit on them like the hens do at home and before long little bunnies will pop out," Pippin said.

Merry looked at the eggs and he was very tempted to laugh but somehow standing in the dark kitchen and facing his very serious little cousin, Merry didn't laugh. Instead he bent down in front of the child and said quietly, "Pippin, those are chicken eggs. You can't get bunnies from chicken eggs."

"Not even if you put them in a nest with a bunny?" Pippin asked sadly.

"Pippin, baby bunnies don't come from eggs like chickens do," Merry said.

"Where do they come from then, Merry?" Pippin asked blinking back tears and still holding the eggs.

Merry reached over and took the eggs from the child and sat them back in the bowl with the other eggs that Bilbo had put out for breakfast in the morning. "Pip, bunnies are more like cats. The babies just come from the mother bunny and they don't lay eggs," Merry said. Pippin had seen the Brandybuck's cat have kittens in the barn in the spring and so Merry didn't have to explain further.

"So those eggs won't help Errol have little baby bunnies?" Pippin frowned.

Merry reached over and took Pippin's hand in his. "Come back to bed, Pip Squeak. Those eggs won't help at all. They'll only break and get Errol all messy."

Pippin allowed Merry to lead him back to bed and he climbed in and hugged the bunny fiercely. "Poor, Errol," Pippin sighed.

"Pippin, you do know that Errol is a stuffed rabbit, don't you?" Merry whispered in the dark as he laid beside of the child with his arm around the little one's waist.

"Yes," Pippin said quietly.

"Stuffed bunnies don't have babies, Pip," Merry said. "Only real bunnies have babies."

"That isn't fair at all," Pippin sighed. "Errol and me want one."

"Well, it doesn't work that way," Merry said softly. "Errol won't have any little bunnies no matter how much grass you put in that basket or how long you leave Errol in it. Besides, isn't Errol a lad bunny? Lads don't have babies."

"My Papa says that I'm his little lad and so lads do too have babies, Merry," Pippin argued.

Not wanting to upset the child further or to have to explain the nature of having babies, some of which Merry was not too clear on himself just yet, Merry decided to keep quiet. Pippin soon fell asleep.

The next morning, Pippin got up, put Errol into the basket with a determined look on his tiny face and then went to breakfast with Merry. Neither of them mentioned the eggs from the night before but Merry noticed that Pippin didn't eat any eggs with his breakfast.

Two days later, Merry and Frodo were sitting in the kitchen with Bilbo getting ready for first breakfast. Frodo was just getting up to go and get Pippin when the child raced into the kitchen excitedly shouting, "Come see! Come see! Errol's done it, Merry! He's done it!"

Frodo looked between Merry and Pippin in confusion. "What's he done, lad?" Bilbo asked curiously getting up from his chair also.

Grinning, Pippin grabbed Bilbo's hand and began to drag him out of the kitchen. "Wait till you see, Bilbo!" Pippin shouted. "Just wait!" He hurried ahead with Bilbo in tow calling back to Frodo and Merry. "Hurry, Frodo! Come on, Merry!"

Merry looked a bit nervous and he was avoiding Frodo's eyes. Before Frodo could ask, Merry slipped past him and called out, "I'm coming, Pip!"

When Frodo and Merry reached the bedroom, Pippin was kneeling beside of Errol's basket with Bilbo beside him. "See, and he did it all by himself. I didn't have to put any eggs in there or anything. He just did it on his own," Pippin was saying.

"Very impressive," Bilbo said peering into the basket. "I don't recall ever having seen a single case of this in all my years."

Pippin assumed this to be a very fine compliment for Errol and grinned at Bilbo. "Errol's special."

Frodo leaned over and looked into the basket and there, sitting beside of Errol, was a very small stuffed black rabbit with floppy ears and small button eyes. Pippin put a finger to his lips and did the rather loud whisper again. "Don't scare him cause he's little. He's brand new."

"I don't doubt that," Frodo said giving Merry a quick glance. Merry looked away.

"See, Merry," Pippin said happily. "Errol can too have babies!"

Merry looked at Pippin and nodded. "I guess I was wrong just this once," Merry said and Frodo groaned.

"That's all right," Pippin beamed. "I wanted you to be wrong so it's good this time. Now Errol is a Papa Rabbit and he has a baby all his own and it's all thanks to this nest right here." Pippin patted the handle of the basket proudly.

"Well, I do hope that you don't plan to allow Errol to have too many babies," Bilbo said.

"Why not?" Pippin asked. "He had this one here so if him and me want more then he can have more."

"Rabbits, even stuffed ones, sometimes get carried away and have too many little ones," Bilbo said knowingly. "If I were you I would only allow Errol this one child. You don't want to wind up with an entire smial full of bunnies and no place to sit down do you?"

Pippin's eyes widened. "He could do that?"

Frodo sighed. Between Bilbo and Merry, Frodo wondered how Pippin would ever learn about the reality of life.

Bilbo just nodded. "If one stuffed bunny is here before you now, do you doubt that Errol could fill up the smial with them?"

"Like the Bracegirdles!" Pippin said eyes wide. The child had obviously heard someone discussing the fact that the Bracegirdles had more than their share of children.

"Exactly," Bilbo agreed. "Everyone knows that there are far too many of the Bracegirdles as it is and more keep coming all the time." Bilbo shook his head as if disgusted by this while Pippin nodded in agreement.

"Errol's a Took not a Bracegirdle," Pippin said defending his rabbit.

"Splendid," Bilbo smiled. "Then one little bunny should be more than enough for him."

"Bilbo's right, Pip," Merry said hopefully.

"He'd better come out of that nest then," Pippin said. "The nest is where he has his babies."

"Why don't you put Errol and his little one on the bed?" Merry suggested. "It's warm there and they'll be safe in the bed while we eat."

The three older hobbits watched Pippin arrange Errol and his new child, which Frodo was sure had cost Merry a few pennies, on the bed covering them to their furry little chins with a blanket and putting their heads on his pillow. Frodo continued to try and get Merry to look at him but Merry kept looking away.

Pippin stepped back and surveyed his work and smiled. "This bed is safe for them. Merry and I sleep in it every time we're here and neither of us has any babies so Errol should be fine."

Frodo smirked at Merry who was rolling his eyes.

"Let's go to our breakfast now, Peregrin," Bilbo smiled taking the child's hand. "It has been a most exciting morning and I think we could use a meal to help us settle properly."

Frodo grabbed hold of Merry and pulled him back a few steps. "That little child is confused enough as it is, Meriadoc. Do you think it was wise to slip that little rabbit into that basket?" Frodo hissed.

"What makes you think that I did it?" Merry frowned. "It could have been Bilbo."

"But it wasn't," Frodo said quite sure of his facts. He'd seen Merry looking at stuffed toys and dolls in one of the shops in town the other day. He hadn't seen Merry purchase anything but he was quit sure that he remembered Errol's new 'child' sitting on one of the tables among some other stuffed rabbits and stuffed bears.

"The Pip Squeak's only six, Frodo," Merry whispered. "He'll figure it out when he's older. Mum told me that when you were seven you thought that you had to take baths so you'd grow. She said you thought the water made you grow like it makes plants grow." Merry snickered.

"She told you that?" Frodo blushed.

"Sometimes she just gets in these weird moods and she tells things like that," Merry smiled. "Most of the time she embarrasses me but sometimes it's you."

"Lovely," Frodo winced.

"Pip will realize that the bunny isn't real when he's older," Merry said.

"The same way you realized that squirrels don't actually grow on trees?" Frodo teased.

"It made sense," Merry scowled defensively. "Every time you see a squirrel, it's coming down out of a tree. I just thought that they grew up there and then came down when they were, well," he paused.

"Ripe?" Frodo sniggered. "Like apples, I believe you said at the time."

Merry lowered his head and blushed. "I was only five."

As they entered the kitchen Pippin was glowing. "What are you planning to call the new baby?" Bilbo asked.

"Oh, I'll let Errol name it," Pippin smiled. "He went to the trouble of having it, so he can decide what its name is."

Frodo smiled. Some day, when Pippin was much older, the lad was going to be almost as embarrassed about this as Merry was about those darned squirrels.

The End

G.W. 04/15/2006


	4. A Gift For Errol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a Yule story featuring the Rabbit.

A Gift For Errol

Frodo had just filled a plate with biscuits and cakes and was turning to head back to the parlour when he was confronted by a very determined looking Pippin. The nine-year-old was looking up at him with a very serious expression on his face. The child was clutching a large, stuffed, grey rabbit in his arms.

"Did you forget something?" Pippin asked frowning at Frodo.

"I don't think so," Frodo said looking down at his plate. "No, I believe I've managed to get some of everything, Pippin."

Pippin's frown deepened. The child was most assuredly annoyed about something but Frodo wasn't certain what. At that moment Merry joined them. He was munching on a biscuit and grinning pleasantly. "Got enough food, Cousin?" Merry asked looking at Frodo's plate.

"Why is everyone so concerned about my eating habits?" Frodo sighed.

Pippin turned his attention on Merry now. "Merry, what did you get Errol for Yule?" the child asked hugging the big rabbit.

"What did I get Errol?" Merry looked surprised. He stared at the stuffed rabbit for a moment and then quickly shifted his attention to Frodo. "What did you get Errol, Frodo?" Merry said casually. Merry had always been able to think on his feet. You might catch Merry off guard for a minute or two but he nearly always recovered quickly.

This time Frodo was ready. He'd been through this last year and had not faired too well. Pippin had come up to him at the Yule party carrying that stuffed rabbit whose name was Errol and had asked that very question. Frodo had not got the rabbit anything at all and had spent the evening trying to explain his mistake to Pippin. He had decided then and there that he would not be in that position again. Smiling, Frodo handed his plate to Merry. "Hold that for a minute, will you, Merry?" Then he reached into his trouser pocket and removed a small package. "This is Errol's gift." He handed the package to a delighted Pippin and retrieved his plate from a dumbfounded Merry.

"Look, Errol," Pippin said holding the package in front of the rabbit's remarkably life-like eyes. "I told you Frodo wouldn't forget two years in a row."

"Close your mouth, Meriadoc or someone is likely to come by and stick a biscuit into it," Frodo whispered, still smiling.

Pippin shook the small package for the rabbit and then looked at Frodo. "Errol says thank you," Pippin said.

Merry, partly recovered, squinted at the package. "Did you get that for the rabbit or did you just happen to have something extra in case you ran into someone you forgot?"

"It's for Errol," Frodo said pointing to the tag on the package. "It says so on the card."

"Errol, from Frodo," Pippin read happily.

"What did Errol get Frodo then?" Merry challenged.

Pippin frowned. "Merry, Errol is a stuffed rabbit."

"I know that!" Merry said looking annoyed. "But what did he get Frodo for Yule?"

"Merry," Pippin said patiently. "Stuffed rabbits don't have any money. Errol doesn't give Yule gifts. He's a stuffed rabbit." Pippin sighed and gave Frodo a knowing look.

"If Errol doesn't give gifts then how can you expect everyone else to give Errol gifts?" Merry objected.

"Not everyone," Pippin said. "Just you and me and Frodo give Errol gifts."

"If Errol didn't get us anything then why should we give him anything?" Merry said determined to make his point.

"Because," Pippin said. "You don't give gifts just to get gifts. You give them because you feel good if you do. Papa says that even if other folks forget to give me something I'm supposed to feel good because I got them something. It's the joy of giving."

Merry sputtered and Frodo continued to smile. "You give Errol something for Yule because it makes you feel good and because you like him," Pippin said. "Isn't that right, Frodo?"

"It most certainly is, Pippin. I know I feel immense joy because I was able to give Errol a gift this year," Frodo said. He did not say that he also felt very relieved not to be on the receiving end of Pippin's disappointment like he had been last year. Taking a bite of one of the small cakes from his plate Frodo watched Merry struggle to collect himself.

Pippin looked at Merry again. "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"What did you get for Errol for Yule?" Pippin asked.

"I think you're using Errol to get extra gifts for yourself," Merry said recovering again. "I think that you are taking advantage of us and of Errol."

Frodo looked at the grey rabbit who now appeared to be frowning at Merry in a most unpleasant way. Frodo was certain that this must be a trick of the light but it made him shake his head as if to clear his vision.

"I am not!" Pippin said looking shocked. "I wouldn't do that to Errol!" He hugged the rabbit tightly. "Whatever is in this present it's for Errol and it will be something Errol likes. It is something Errol likes, isn't it, Frodo?" Pippin looked at Frodo worriedly.

"I suppose he'll like it," Frodo said. "I don't select gifts for many stuffed rabbits and so I may have been mistaken in my choice but I tried to get something that I thought Errol might like. Why don't you open it for him and see if he likes it?"

"Alright," Pippin agreed. He thrust Errol into Merry's arms. "I need both hands to open the package. Hold Errol so he can see what Frodo's given him, Merry."

"Why do I have to hold the rabbit?" Merry demanded as a couple of lasses walked by the table of food and pointed at Merry. Both of them giggled and walked away quickly. Merry blushed. "Don't take all day, Pippin."

"I don't want to spoil the wrapping," Pippin said as he carefully opened the package. "Pearl says if you open gifts slowly you can use the pretty paper again."

"Those lasses are ruining him," Merry muttered to Frodo.

Pippin grinned and held up the item that had been in the package. "Errol loves this!"

Merry looked at the small brush in Pippin's hands and then at Frodo. "You got the rabbit a brush?"

"I thought Errol might enjoy looking his best for important occasions," Frodo said.

"He will!" Pippin said smiling. "Look, Errol." He pulled the rabbit from Merry's arms and began to run the brush through its fur.

"You got that for Pippin," Merry said looking at Frodo.

"No he didn't!" Pippin said. "He knows I don't like to brush my hair. He'd never give me a brush, would you, Frodo?"

"Not the longest day that I live, Pippin," Frodo said enjoying Merry's annoyance.

At that moment, Bilbo passed. He patted Pippin on the head and said, "Errol is looking very dapper today."

"He has a new brush," Pippin said proudly.

"I could tell," Bilbo said. "Errol looks very well groomed."

Merry was livid now. "He knew what you bought the rabbit," Merry hissed at Frodo.

"I don't think I mentioned it to him but I suppose I might have," Frodo shrugged.

"Well?" Pippin asked looking at Merry again.

"What?" Merry said looking dangerously angry now.

"What did you get Errol for Yule, Merry?"

Exasperated, Merry looked around the kitchen and then hurried over to the pantry, opened it and went inside.

"What's he doing?" Pippin asked looking at Frodo.

"I don't know," Frodo said truthfully. He and Pippin waited. Inside the pantry Merry could be heard rummaging around and muttering to himself.

Merry returned carrying a jar of raspberry jam, which he thrust into Pippin's hands. "Happy Yule, Errol," Merry said tightly.

Pippin looked at the jar and then at Merry. "You didn't wrap it."

"It's the thought that counts," Merry said. "Besides, it takes you all day long to open a gift and I didn't want Errol to be in suspense for all of that time."

Frodo was sniggering but he didn't dare say anything just now.

Pippin blinked. "Why was Errol's gift in the pantry?"

"I hid it in here," Merry said frustrated with all of the questions. "You keep this up and you'll take all of the joy out of my gift, Pippin."

"I don't want to do that," Pippin said. "But you got Errol jam?"

"Errol does like jam doesn't he? I've seen him with it in his fur many times so he must like it," Merry said. "You do, don't you, Errol?"

For some reason the rabbit looked amused to Frodo. Perhaps he shouldn't have any more of the mulled wine this evening or maybe it was the way Pippin was holding the thing. The child treated the rabbit as if it were alive and Frodo supposed that was colouring his own view of it. There was also the fact that Merry was leaning over and looking the bunny in the eye as he spoke.

"Errol says thank you for the jam, Merry," Pippin said politely. "He likes it very much and he and I are sorry we didn't think you'd got him anything."

"I accept your apologies," Merry said and he walked off leaving Frodo and Pippin staring after him.

"Don't tell Merry, Frodo, but Errol doesn't really eat jam," Pippin said in a low voice.

"He doesn't?"

"Stuffed rabbits don't eat, Frodo," Pippin said patiently. "I just sometimes get jam on Errol when I'm eating it."

"Well, it's an honest mistake, Pippin," Frodo said. "Since Errol does sometimes have jam in his fur, it's only reasonable that Merry might think Errol liked jam."

Pippin nodded. "Errol doesn't like jam at all. He hates it when I get him all sticky with it. That's why he likes this brush that you got him. Errol likes to be neat. I like jam."

"You could always eat the jam yourself," Frodo suggested. "Merry wouldn't have to know."

"I could and I could tell him that Errol ate it and then me and Errol wouldn't hurt Merry's feelings," Pippin smiled looking hungrily at the jam.

"But don't eat it all at once," Frodo warned.

Pippin shook his head. "I'll make it last."

"You aren't angry with Merry for not getting something that Errol likes are you?" Frodo asked.

"No, it really is the thought that counts," Pippin said happily. "Merry just needs to think better."

The End

GW 12/23/2007


	5. Errol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Originally written for "Marigold's Challenge 16" from the starter sentence below.
> 
> Starter sentence: The wind that morning had been no more than a gentle breeze, but by noon the sun had dimmed and a full out gale was blowing.

Errol"

Beta by Marigold

 

The wind that morning had been no more than a gentle breeze, but by noon the sun had dimmed and a full out gale was blowing. Frodo hated to do it, but he had no choice. A storm was coming and it was a good idea to get Pippin inside before it started. He would have liked to get Merry back inside also but he doubted that the older lad would be as easy to find.

Frodo walked out into the garden beside of Bag End and began to look around for Pippin. He had instructed the twelve-year-old child to stay in the garden and had even spent extra time making sure that Pippin knew exactly where the boundaries of the garden were. Frowning up at the darkening sky, Frodo wondered if perhaps Pippin had followed Merry and the older lads out of the garden. It had happened before.

"Pippin!" Frodo called. "Pippin, it's going to storm. You need to get inside now!"

There was no answer and so Frodo walked further out into the garden. Just past the apple tree, Frodo noticed that the door to the Gaffer's storage shed was standing open. Frodo distinctly remembered telling Pippin to stay out of the Gaffer's things. "Peregrin Took, you come out here at once!" Frodo shouted, making an effort to speak loudly enough to be heard over the sound of the wind.

There was no answer and Frodo watched in annoyance as the door to the shed banged against the side of the building. The wind was getting stronger with each passing minute. Soon the rain would begin to fall. Frodo decided that the sound of the wind might be keeping Pippin from hearing him and so he went over to look inside of the shed.

He had never liked the little shed. The Gaffer had wanted a place in which to store his gardening supplies and Bilbo had agreed to let him build this little eyesore in behind the apple tree without ever giving a thought to how dreadful it might look. Frodo had always thought that the little shed spoiled the look of this part of the garden. Also, something about the building, which was so unhobbit-like in its appearance, gave Frodo a nervous feeling. He'd never liked coming in here.

Resigned to searching the tiny structure for his wayward cousin, Frodo pushed aside his dislike for the shed and went in. The shed wasn't very large and it was piled high with all sorts of oddments. The Gaffer had stored a barrel of nails in one corner. The barrel was sealed but someone had painted the word "Nales" on the side of it in big white letters. The Gaffer, like a great many hobbits, didn't read and so Frodo suspected that Sam had labeled the barrel a few years back before his spelling had improved. He smiled and continued to look about.

Pippin liked to hide just for the entertainment of watching others look for him and even though the shed was small, there were lots of nooks and crannies big enough for a lad of twelve to hid in and not be seen. On top of the barrel of "Nales" there lay several apple cores and so someone had been here recently.

The Gaffer had several feet of rope coiled and hung on a peg at the back of the shed. Three hoes leaned against the wall next to the rope. Several pots that could be used for smaller plants sat in a cluster on the floor. There was a stool, a rake, a wheel barrow, a broken wheel barrow, some extra tomato stakes, some twine, four shovels, an old trunk with the lid missing, a wagon wheel, a saddle with both stirrups missing, several little garden trowels, no less than eight containers of paint, several paint brushes, two posts that Frodo recognized as being from the back fence, some flat stones that could be used for making a walkway and a wall of shelves and dusty old boxes.

Suddenly, there was a loud thud and Frodo whirled about to see that the wind had blown the shed door closed. "Lovely!" Frodo said to no one in particular. It was obvious now that Pippin wasn't in here. He might have been in here earlier eating apples, but the lad was gone now. Frodo walked over to the door and pulled on the knob. Might just as well continue his search elsewhere. If Merry had taken Pippin with him without letting Frodo know, then there would be two hobbit-lads in trouble.

Frodo pulled the knob again and nothing happened. It rattled but the door didn't come open. Suddenly a wave of panic hit him and he tugged harder at the door. He pounded on it with his fists. He took a step back and then threw his shoulder against it. It rattled, as if to taunt him, but it did not open.

The shed was darker with the door shut. The Gaffer had built a small six-inch opening into the top of the shed to allow some light to come in, but there was no actual window. With the storm coming, the sky had darkened and so there really wasn't much light coming in at the moment. The boards of the door had tiny cracks between them and that let some light in, but not nearly enough to make much difference.

Frodo pounded on the door in frustration. Maybe if Pippin were in the garden, he would hear the noise and come and let Frodo out. Frodo laughed and spoke aloud, "Frodo Baggins, you are now at the mercy of a twelve-year-old Took. No good can come of that."

Frodo kicked the door with his foot, which only succeeded in causing pain to shoot up his leg forcing him to sit down and rub his foot. Next to him on the floor he found a wedge-shaped block of wood, which he held in his hand and admired. "Where were you a minute or two ago?" he asked. This was the wedge that the Gaffer always put under the door to keep it propped open while he worked in the shed or got supplies out. It would have been nice if it had been underneath the door earlier.

Frodo stood up and limped over to the barrel marked "Nales" and lay the wedge down on top of it. He wondered if there might be anything in here that he could use to get himself out of this predicament. He wondered where Merry might be about now. He wondered if Pippin was with Merry. He wondered how long it might be before anyone missed him. How long after they missed him might they think to look in this shed?

"I could starve to death in here," Frodo said. Suddenly he caught sight of something looking at him and he backed up against the opposite wall. Something was peering at him from one of the shelves. It was something fuzzy and a bit ratty looking. Frodo's eyes widened and he heaved a sigh of relief when he realized what it was. Errol!

Frodo hadn't seen Errol in a while. In fact, he hadn't thought too much about Errol in quite some time. He chuckled and walked over and removed the large, stuffed rabbit from the shelf. "So, Errol, I know how I managed to get into this fix," Frodo said, running a hand over the furry stuffed rabbit's ears. "Just how did you wind up in here?"

A loud crack of thunder sounded and Frodo instinctively hugged the rabbit to himself and then sighed. "Look at this," he said to the rabbit. "I am a grown hobbit and here I am trapped in a shed that I have never really liked and clinging to a stuffed rabbit for comfort during a storm! I am supposed to be a responsible adult. In fact, I am supposed to be watching out for Merry and Pippin. You remember Pippin, don't you?"

Errol said nothing, of course, and so Frodo continued. After all, there was nothing else to do at the moment. "I wonder if Pippin knows that you're out here in the Gaffer's shed? Did he put you here or did someone else do that?" Frodo considered the brown bunny intently as if willing it to give up its secrets.

The thunder sounded again but this time it came as less of a surprise and Frodo sat down with the rabbit in his hands and sighed. "It looks as if it will be just you and me for a while, Errol. I think that the storm is going to keep everyone inside. I don't suspect that anyone will be looking for either of us anytime soon."

Frodo tried to remember the last time he'd seen Pippin dragging this rabbit around. Pippin loved this old toy and had slept with it for years. Every time the lad would come to Bag End to visit, he'd have the rabbit under one arm and his pack under the other. Errol had slept with Pippin until Merry had begun to tease their younger cousin about the rabbit. That had been just after Bilbo had left.

Frodo sighed. "I suppose lots of things have changed in the past few years, Errol," Frodo said. "I've come of age and become the Master of Bag End, Bilbo's gone, Gandalf hasn't been about for a while, and you have been relegated to the Gaffer's shed." He looked around the dimly lit little building and laughed. "I guess we've both been relegated to the shed. At least we have company, don't we?"

The rain was pounding against the roof. Frodo sat with his back to the wall and his feet stretched out in front of him with Errol on his lap. For some strange reason, he felt better now that he had Pippin's stuffed rabbit in his hands. He wasn't about to admit that when he was found, but it was true.

He remembered an argument between Pippin and Merry that had taken place not too long after Bilbo had left.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It's a stuffed toy, Pippin," Merry said, sounding disgusted. "You're too old to sleep with it."

"I am not," Pippin said. "I can sleep with Errol if I want to!"

"Give up the rabbit, Pip Squeak," Merry said, taking the toy out of Pippin's hands and holding it out of reach. "You don't want other lads to make fun of you for sleeping with a stuffed toy."

"Give him back, Merry!" Pippin shouted. "He's mine and I want him! Give me my rabbit!"

"You're too old for this," Merry said, sternly. "This is a baby toy and you are always telling me that you aren't a baby anymore so you don't need this bunny." Merry held the rabbit over his head and looked down at Pippin's face as the youngster tried to snatch the toy by jumping up and grabbing at it. Merry was so much taller that Pippin didn't have a chance. Merry was tall for his age and he was eight years older than Pippin. The twelve-year-old was outsized but Pippin was never the sort to give up easily.

Pippin suddenly pulled back a foot and kicked Merry hard in the shin. "Ouch!" Merry yelled, dropping the rabbit and grabbing his injured leg.

Pippin scooped up the rabbit and ran from the room yelling out as he went, "I am not a baby and you leave my rabbit alone, Merry!"

"As soon as I can walk again, I am coming after you Pippin!" Merry shouted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Frodo chuckled. Pippin might be smaller and younger, but he was not easily out-matched. "You must be a very important rabbit, Errol," Frodo said. "Pippin usually goes along with whatever Merry tells him, especially if Merry tells him that something makes him look like a baby."

Frodo frowned. "I hope they're both inside and warm and dry." He put the rabbit against his chest and stroked its fur. "They're good lads, both of them. Merry only teases Pippin because he's so fond of him and even though they do torment the very life out of me at times, I always look forward to their visits especially now that Bilbo is gone. It's very pleasant living alone and it suits me quite well, but sometimes even I like a bit of company."

The wind howled outside and battered the little building with all of its force while Frodo talked to the rabbit. "Merry is at that dreadful age where he thinks that no one knows more than he does. He believes that he has all of the answers that he will ever require and naturally he has no reason to listen to anyone about anything. The truth of it is, Errol, most of the time Merry does have all of the answers," Frodo chuckled. "That one is far too smart for his own good. He will be a real chore to keep in line from here on."

He shifted his position on the hard floor and continued. "Now, Pippin is just a complete handful. That one is into something every minute of every day. He can't keep still even when he's asleep. He thinks he's every bit as grown up as Merry and he is the nosiest little lad that I have ever come across. I can't count the number of times that I have found him snooping in my drawers, or rummaging through the cupboards and he'll look up at me when I catch him and say, "What's this, Frodo?" He doesn't apologize for any of it. It's maddening, Errol," Frodo confessed. "One of these days, that lad is going to land in a pile of trouble because of that curiosity of his. He's already got into some nasty situations because of it."

The rain droned on and so did Frodo. Errol, being a very patient stuffed rabbit and used to constant chatter as he belonged to Pippin, sat quietly in Frodo's lap doing what all good stuffed companions do, giving comfort to those in need of it.  
____________________________________________

It was a full three hours later when Merry opened the door to the shed and placed a large rock against the door to hold it open. The storm had stopped as suddenly as it had begun and the wind was, once again, only a gentle breeze.

Pippin peered around the doorframe and then whispered to Merry, "What's he doing?"

"I don't know, but it looks to me as if he's taking a nap," Merry whispered back.

"In the garden shed?" Pippin said, slightly louder.

"That's what it looks like to me," Merry said, as he and Pippin tiptoed into the shed and looked down at their older cousin. Frodo was slumped against the wall of the shed sound asleep with a large stuffed rabbit held gently in his arms. His face was resting against the rabbit's head, pressing its ears down on either side.

"Errol!" Pippin crowed with joy. "Merry, it's my rabbit!"

Merry groaned and slapped his forehead as Frodo jerked awake and sat up straight. His eyes fell at once on Pippin who was squatted down and looking happily at the rabbit in Frodo's arms. "You found Errol!"

Merry smirked. "Aren't you a little too old to be sneaking out into the shed to sleep with Pippin's rabbit, Cousin?"

Frodo scowled up at him in embarrassment and forced the stuffed toy into Pippin's waiting arms. "I just fell asleep is all," Frodo muttered, getting to his feet. "The wind blew the door shut and I got locked in here during that storm."

"Why didn't you prop the door open?" Merry asked. "The Gaffer has a wedge somewhere in here, but if you can't find it, you can always use a rock."

"Thank you for that pearl of wisdom," Frodo growled, rubbing his back which felt stiff from his nap on the floor. "The next time I come in here I will remember that."

"It will save you a great deal of trouble," Merry advised, sagely.

"It's all right, Frodo," Pippin said, still holding the rabbit. "I forget those sorts of things all the time when I'm exploring."

"You mean, when you're snooping," Merry said with a smirk.

"At least you found my rabbit," Pippin said, ignoring Merry and slipping his hand into Frodo's. 'I've looked everywhere for him. I wonder how he got all the way out here? I don't remember bringing him out here. Do you remember me doing that, Merry?"

"No," Merry said, a bit uncomfortably.

"I wonder how he got all the way out here?" Pippin said, clutching the rabbit tightly and looking at it fondly.

"I wonder too," Frodo said, with a look in Merry's direction.

Merry averted his eyes and said, "It doesn't matter, Pip. Frodo found it."

"Yes, I did," Frodo remarked, managing to catch Merry's eye. "I only hope I don't find Errol anywhere else unusual."

"Oh, I promise to keep up with him better, Frodo," Pippin said, thinking that this warning might be directed at him. "I know it was careless of me to lose him like that."

Frodo continued to look at Merry as the three of them began to walk back to Bag End.

"I just don't remember bringing him out to the garden shed," Pippin said, furrowing his brow and trying to puzzle out the mystery. "But thank you so much for finding him, Frodo."

"You are very welcome, Pippin," Frodo said, as the three of them entered Bag End.

"I just don't know how-"

"I put the rabbit in the shed, all right?" Merry said, stopping and looking down at Pippin. "I took it and I hid it from you in that shed because I knew that you weren't supposed to be in there."

Pippin's eyes widened with surprise and he hugged the rabbit even tighter. "You hid Errol in the shed?"

"Look, Pip Squeak, I only did it because you're getting too old to be sleeping with a stuffed rabbit," Merry said. "I didn't want anyone teasing you about it and so I hid the rabbit."

Pippin frowned at Merry but said nothing.

"You've slept just fine without it," Merry pointed out. "Why old Errol here has been in the shed since the last time we visited Frodo and that was nearly three months ago."

Pippin continued to look up at Merry but still said nothing.

"Pippin, it's only a stuffed bunny," Merry said. "It isn't as if I put your sister, Pervinca in the shed or anything."

Pippin looked down at the rabbit and then walked past Merry into the next room.

Merry looked over at Frodo and sighed. "I really only did it because he's too old for it, Frodo. Someone has to take it away from him or the other lads will tease him about it."

"Merry, what other lads are we talking about?" Frodo asked, as he put a kettle on for tea.

"Well, you know," Merry said, sounding uncertain. "The other lads that he knows."

"Merry, the only other lad who is staying at Bag End right now is you," Frodo said. "And you are also the only lad teasing Pippin about his rabbit."

"Well, what if he takes it other places, Frodo?" Merry said, defensively. "He brings it to the Hall with him when he comes to stay with me and I know he sleeps with it at his smial. What if some of the other lads found out?"

"Is this about Pippin, Merry or is this something else?" Frodo asked, cutting himself a slice of cheese. He'd been in the shed long enough to be hungry.

"I don't know what you mean," Merry said, too quickly.

Frodo smiled kindly. "Yes, you do."

Merry sighed. "Well, I was only trying to protect him."

Frodo nodded. "I know that, but he doesn't and so you better explain it to him. That stuffed rabbit isn't the only thing around here that he depends upon, you know."

Merry sighed again and left to find Pippin while Frodo greedily stuffed another chunk of cheese into his mouth. Errol had been fine company out in the shed, but there hadn't been anything at all to eat.  
____________________________________________

 

Pippin was curled up on his bed with Errol in his arms when Merry came in and sat down.

"Pippin, I'm sorry I took your rabbit," Merry began.

"No you're not," Pippin said. "Frodo made you come and tell me that, but you're not sorry at all."

"Yes, I am," Merry said. "I really did take Errol for your own good, Pip."

Pippin ignored this and turned his back to Merry.

"When I was your age, I had this old blanket that I liked a lot," Merry said in an embarrassed tone. "I used to sleep with it at night and I liked to have it with me when I was sick or just feeling bad about something."

"Did any of your mean older cousins steal it and hide it in a dirty old garden shed for your own good?" Pippin asked, still angry.

"No," Merry said. "Berilac and Freddy caught me sleeping with it on the sofa one afternoon and they teased me something fierce about my baby blanket and they told some of the other lads about it."

Pippin sat up and moved over next to Merry leaving Errol to fend for himself for a moment. "Why would they tease you about sleeping with a blanket, Merry?" Pippin frowned. "Everyone sleeps with blankets."

"This one had a bunch of little lambs on it and it was pink," Merry said, blushing.

"You slept with a pink blanket?" Pippin said, giggling.

"One of my aunts made it when mum was carrying me in case I was a lass or something revolting like that," Merry grumbled.

Pippin snickered. "You weren't a lass, so why'd you have the blanket?"

"Because I found it when I was about two and I liked it so mum let me keep it, all right?" Merry glared at Pippin and dared him to say anything. Pippin continued to grin but he didn't say anything and so Merry continued. "I only took Errol so that something like what happened to me wouldn't happen to you."

Pippin hugged Merry tightly and then said, "I don't care what the other lads think of Errol, Merry."

Merry pulled away from Pippin and looked at him. "You will if they start teasing you in front of folks and asking you where your baby blank-er, bunny rabbit is." Merry blushed.

"I know," Pippin said, sadly. "But Merry?"

"What?" Merry said.

"Couldn't I just sleep with Errol a little longer?" Pippin asked. 'I'll try real hard not to get caught by anyone."

Merry looked down at the earnest little face and sighed. "I suppose it's all right. If anyone finds out and picks on you, I'll beat them up for you."

Pippin hugged him again and said, "Thank you for looking out for me, Merry." Then after a pause he said in a whisper. "I don't think we should tell anyone about Frodo sleeping with Errol. He really is too old for a stuffed rabbit."

Out in the hall, Frodo grinned. It was comforting to know that his secret was safe with Pippin.

The End

G.W. 05/01/2005


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was written for Marigold's Challenge number 30.

"Freddy and The Thain's Rabbit"  
(Told entirely from the POV of Errol, the stuffed Rabbit of the Thain)

By Errol with some assistance from Grey_wonderer

Beta by Marigold

Written for Marigold's Challenge 30

 

1484 in the Shire

Merry is unloading a few last minute items from the pony trap. I am one of those last minute items. He pulls me out of his remaining gear and then turns to face Pippin. "Well, I am late in returning this to you but I thought I might as well bring it back now," Merry says. He hands me to Pippin.

"Errol!" Pippin grins. He is always glad to see me. That is only part of what makes him so dear to me. I have seen him over the years but mostly from a distance. Pippin often visited Buckland and so I was constantly hearing his voice in the halls or seeing him pass by a door. Still it has been a very long time since I was in his arms. He forgets himself and gives me a proper hug.

"So you've had him all this time?" Pippin asks.

"After Freddy outgrew him, he gave him to Lilac for a time," Merry explains with a slight frown. I personally refer to this time as my dark years. I was not at all fond of Freddy's oldest child. "I had to take Errol from her because, well, let us just say that she was not showing the proper respect for the Thain's Rabbit and leave it at that." An understatement!

Pippin smiled. "So you saved Errol from Lilac and then put him somewhere for safe keeping?"

"I did," Merry said. "I always meant to bring him back but for some reason I didn't remember to do so until today of all days. Here we are about to set out on our last big adventure together and I pick this moment to return your childhood Rabbit to you."

Pippin smiles at me. "Actually quite fitting. I think I'll bring him along."

"To Rohan and Gondor?" Merry looks surprised.

"Well, he did miss the Quest and I suspect that as he is here now, he must intend on coming with me," Pippin says. As always he knows what I am thinking. I am glad that hasn't changed. The years have been kind to Pippin.

"Peregrin Took, this is not a walking trip to Bag End you know that," Merry says. "This is a very long journey and is it really proper for a ninety-four-year-old Hobbit to go carting a stuffed Rabbit across Middle-earth?"

Pippin laughs, a sound which I have sorely missed. "Really, Merry," he grins. "Half the Shire thinks I'm a bit off my nut because of my age and the other half thinks it because I'm Peregrin Took. If you are worried about my reputation then I suggest that you put that out of your mind and concentrate on the journey. No one will think this any stranger than anything else I do." He stroked my ears.

"I am travelling with a nutter!" Merry sighed. "I thought that you'd leave Errol with Faramir for one of his children."

"Did you?" Pippin asks raising an eyebrow.

"Not really," Merry grins. "But that will be something else for you to keep up with. I am not carrying that Rabbit!" He would do so if Pippin asked him.

"Certainly not," Pippin agrees and he proceeds to load me into his pack. "Errol travels with me just as he always has."

"You are hopeless," Merry sighs.

"But you can't do without me," Pippin reminds him and Merry doesn't argue the point.

***

The Great Smials in the Shire 1439

I watched as Merry opened his mouth and then closed it again and then opened it again. He was at a complete loss for what to say and frankly I could hardly blame him. It was as much of a surprise to me as it was to him. Only Freddy, who is Merry's youngest child, seemed certain of how things should proceed. I should know by now that often the youngest Hobbit in a room is likely to have things sorted out before everyone else gathers their wits. Hobbit children are very intuitive and act from impulse rather than information.

I happen to think that is far more honest. I know a great deal about Hobbit children thanks to my many years spent in the company of Peregrin Took who is currently Thain of the Shire. I watched him grow up after all. I have the honour of being the Thain's stuffed Rabbit. I know this is an honour only because I have heard many Hobbits speak of honour when referring to the title of Thain. Personally, I was honoured to be Pippin's stuffed Rabbit long before he became the Thain and the Took. I was fond of him for simply being Pippin and I still feel that way about him.

My name is Errol. There is no 'son-of' nonsense that follows it, just Errol. That is what Pippin calls me. He, with Merry's help at translation, gave me this name. In fact, I hardly ever think of my real name anymore. Though it was much grander, it had less charm than the name Errol and it really doesn't matter any more since I am never addressed by it.

"Can I Papa?" Freddy was saying as he held me tightly against his chest with his good arm and looked up at Merry who was still standing there with his mouth open. Freddy's other arm is wrapped up in a bandage to protect it. Freddy informed me that he broke it falling out of a tree. Pippin was also a tree-climber so I am well acquainted with this sort of Hobbit injury. Freddy's arm seems healed to me but the lad does insist that it still hurts from time to time. I think he enjoys the attention that his recently broken bone gets him.

"I haven't seen that Rabbit in ever so long," Eglantine Took announced from her chair by the fire. "Oh, how Paladin hated that Rabbit. He always thought that Pippin kept it far too long. I didn't know that the Rabbit was still about." She looked at me with rather misty eyes and smiled. Unlike Paladin Took, Eglantine has always been very nice to me.

Merry regained his composure at this point and bent down to look little Freddy in the eye properly. "Exactly where did you get that Rabbit, Fredegar Brandybuck?" Merry asked in a fatherly voice.

"I found him!" Freddy crowed. "He was in that room with the extra big bed and the window that I like where you can see the duck pond."

"Your Uncle Pippin and Aunt Diamond's bedroom?" Merry asked arching an eyebrow.

"I don't know," Freddy lied. I liked this little Hobbit lad right from the minute I met him.

"You know," Merry said not believing the lie for even a second. Merry knows his children quite well.

"I might know," Freddy agreed softly. "But can I keep him? Nobody else is playing with him and he was up tall so I had a time getting him."

"Up tall?" Eglantine looked puzzled by this bit of Freddy's speech.

"He means that the Rabbit was high up somewhere," Estella explained. She hadn't spoken until now and I really did wish she'd kept quiet. Her voice always has made me cringe a bit. I think that is because Pippin always cringes a bit when she speaks. I think he's afraid of her in some way. Merry's wife is a very reasonable sort and, well, she and Pippin rarely agree about anything save their fondness for Merry.

"I had to get up like a tall Hobbit so Errol was up tall," Freddy explained smiling at Eglantine pleasantly. He squeezed me again and then looked at Merry. "I can keep him can't I? I got him down and I didn't break anything."

"You didn't break anything else you mean, my lad. Your arm isn't completely healed from the last time you got up tall and then fell," Estella frowns looking fondly at her youngest child. "And just exactly who told you that Rabbit's name?" She manages to look motherly and suspicious all at the same time. I think Pippin is right to fear her.

"That was a big old tree, Mama," Freddy says rubbing his arm. "My arm still hurts but I just had to climb on a chair to get Errol. He was up tall but not as tall as that tree." He smiles as if proud of his efforts and then remembers his mother's second question. "Everybody at the Great Smials knows Errol, Mama. Faramir's told me his name lots of time, I think, or maybe it was Uncle Pip who told me, or Papa or, well, someone did because that's his name of course." I have always enjoyed the way small Hobbits explain things.

"Fredegar, you took something that doesn't belong to you without asking," Estella said in that reasonable tone and I was very glad that little Freddy was holding tightly to me. Pippin is correct about her voice in my opinion.

"But Mama," Freddy wailed.

"You put that Rabbit back now, Fredegar," Estella said firmly.

I noted that Merry seemed relieved not to be the one to tell the lad the bad news. He patted Freddy on the top of his curly head and pointed back the way we'd come. He gave the child a reassuring smile. "Put the Rabbit on the bed, Freddy," Merry instructed. "I don't want you climbing up tall again today. You could fall and injure your arm. You know that the healer only removed the splint a week ago. Now, do as your Mum tells you."

Freddy looked down at the floor and sighed. "Can I just visit with Errol while I'm here?" Freddy asked in a whisper. "I could play with him for a few days and then he and I won't be lonely."

Merry was weakening. The child had a way with him. I could see that quite clearly. I was turned so that I was facing Merry and I watched him to see what he might say but before Merry had a chance to render a decision, Estella came over and reached out for me. Freddy clutched me tighter and looked up at her. Now Merry and I were both watching Estella.

"Please," Freddy said stretching the word out as far as it would go.

"Please what?"

It was Pippin's voice and I was relieved. Now there would be some proper Tookish sense used to sort all of this out. I did not want to wind up in Estella's possession even if she only meant to return me to Pippin's room.

Freddy turned from his parents and ran toward Pippin with me still in his arms. "Uncle Pip!" he crowed.

"Hullo, Fred," Pippin greeted the child and he lifted both Freddy and I into his arms.

"I'm up tall now!" Freddy grinned.

"Never you mind that," Merry said. "Tell your Uncle Pip what you've done."

"Well, I see you've met Errol," Pippin said when Freddy failed to find anything to say. Pippin nearly always has something to say. He smiled at Freddy. "Either Errol has been out for a stroll or you've been in my room."

"I like that window," Freddy confessed softly.

"Looking at the ducks then were you?" Pippin asked pleased. He enjoyed looking at the ducks too. I even watch them on occasion though I don't find them as interesting as Pippin seems to. Ducks are rather dull once you learn their routine. I simply can't manage the interest that Pippin can when it comes to ducks. Now, rabbits are quite a different story.

Freddy nodded.

"And Errol just fell down off of the top of the wardrobe into your arms?" Pippin teased.

"I wish I'd thought to say that," the six-year-old Brandybuck said.

Pippin laughed and I heard Estella clear her throat. I felt Pippin straighten slightly but he ignored her and reached over to stroke one of my ears. "Errol's a very talented Rabbit but he doesn't usually climb down from my wardrobe on his own," Pippin said gently.

"I got him," Freddy said. "I wanted to play with him and he wanted to play with me."

"Fredegar," Estella warned.

"He did, Mama," Freddy said. "I heard him say it." The child was quite right about this but there would be no explaining it to Estella Bolger Brandybuck.

"Errol is a wee bit neglected now that I'm older and busy with things," Pippin said honestly and he rubbed my ears again.

"I could play with him while I'm here if you want me to, Uncle Pip," Freddy offered hopefully.

Pippin smiled at him. "You'd do that for me?" he asked sounding as if he'd been looking for someone to perform this task.

Freddy nodded.

"Pip," Merry said sounding worried.

"It's all right, Merry," Pippin assured him. "Freddy's a good lad and I know he'll take proper care of Errol." He looked at Estella then and said, "If it's agreeable with you and Estella that is."

"You do know that little lads often forget to be careful don't you?" Estella asked coming closer.

"I know a wee bit about little lads," Pippin said. "I do have one you know. Besides, I was one and I happen to remember enough about that to know what little lads are like."

She looked at Merry and he studied Pippin. I think Merry was trying to determine if Pippin was simply being generous with Freddy or if he truly didn't mind if the child spent time with me. Merry and Pippin exchanged a glance or two and then Merry said, "I suppose it will be all right if you are very careful, Freddy."

"I will be," Freddy said and then he squirmed a bit and Pippin put him down. "Come on Errol!"

"What do you say to your Uncle, Freddy?" Estella asked.

"Thank you, Uncle Pip!" Freddy shouted as he hurried from the room before the adults could put their heads together and change their minds.

***

"What kind of stew?" Freddy asked as he stood in the kitchen holding me. We were near the worktable watching Diamond prepare luncheon. It was my seventh day in Freddy's company and I was still enjoying myself. Freddy has lots of questions about food. I soon discovered that he was deeply interested in everything about eating. His choices seemed less messy than what I recalled Pippin eating at this age but little Freddy seemed to eat more often. I had thought such a thing would be impossible but I was wrong.

"Beef stew," Diamond said smiling as she put more carrots into the large pot. Hobbits have enormous cooking pots because they never make a small portion of anything.

"That's from cows isn't it?" Freddy asked.

"It is indeed, Freddy," Diamond said and placed a large number of mushrooms into the pot. She handed Freddy a small pile of mushrooms on a plate so that he might snack on them while he continued with his questions.

"Was it a milk cow?" Freddy asked.

"No, love," Diamond said patiently. "I believe it was a bull. Your Uncle Pip or your father might know." Diamond frowned ever so slightly. She has never enjoyed knowing too much about where her meat comes from. I have heard conversations between Diamond and Pippin on this subject. She is fond of saying, 'Don't tell me the details, dearest. Just bring it in and I'll be happy to prepare it but I don't want to know where you came by it.' I know how she feels. For some reason, even though I am a stuffed Rabbit, I do not enjoy it when the Tooks have Rabbit stew or any other sort of food made from Rabbits. The smell upsets me.

"I hope it was that mean bull that almost killed me and Éowyn last month," Freddy said vindictively.

"You were almost killed by a bull, Freddy?" Diamond asked as she put potatoes into the stew pot.

"Me and Owyn," Freddy said around a mouthful of mushrooms. He calls his older sister Owyn nearly all the time even though her proper name is Éowyn. It reminds me of the way Pippin shortened his older sisters' names. "We climbed over a fence to pet a baby calf and a nasty bull charged us."

"It did?" Diamond asked with just the proper amount of surprise in her voice. "Whatever did you do?"

"We ran," Freddy said. "I'm glad I didn't have Errol with me then cause I fell down and that old bull almost got me. I hope we're eating him in that stew."

Diamond laughed. "Well, you can pretend we are if it makes you enjoy the stew more," Diamond suggested.

"Aunt Di?"

"Yes, dear-heart?"

"If you make stew from a milk cow will there be milk in the stew too?" Freddy asked. I do enjoy the way he thinks. It is a bit of Pippin with a bit of Merry tossed in for good measure. It is rather like a good stew in fact. You have lots of different ingredients in there and it all makes for the perfect flavour. I am enjoying my time with Freddy.

***

"Freddy is asleep on the sofa," Faramir smiled. "He's in the parlour with the Thain's Rabbit in his arms, Uncle Merry." I hear Faramir's serious voice just outside of the parlour door. Faramir and I have spent a night or two together over the years, but we never really became close. Faramir is less interested in stuffed Rabbit companions than some other small lads I could name. Pippin put me into Faramir's bed when the child was two but we never really bonded. I think Pippin was slightly disappointed but I understood completely. Not everyone needs a stuffed Rabbit.

Merry snorted. "The Thain's Rabbit? When exactly did Errol become titled?"

"It's what everyone calls him," Faramir said. "I hear the staff say it all the time."

"The staff?" Merry frowned. "How do they know Errol?"

"They clean in Mama and Papa's bedroom and they know not to move the Rabbit," Faramir said. Faramir is nine but he speaks as though he were older. The lad is very bright and very serious for a small child. Pippin is often confused by it all but he is extremely proud of Faramir.

Merry laughed. "Do you mean to say that your father has given the staff instructions that involve that Rabbit?"

"I think Mum did that," Faramir said. He is right. In fact it is Diamond's fault that I am now referred to as 'The Thain's Rabbit' for she very distinctly told the head of the household staff that 'The Thain's Rabbit' was not to be moved from the top of the wardrobe by anyone save the Thain. This information has filtered throughout the Great Smials over the years and I am known to be quite important because of it.

"Well, I'll just bet that your father was very pleased by that one," Merry said still sounding amused. Sometimes if Merry thinks that Pippin has been embarrassed in some way he is very entertained by it. He does adore Pippin but he also enjoys this sort of nonsense. I lie still in Freddy's arms and listen further. Eavesdropping is a hobby of mine and over the years it has been quite useful for learning information that I might not be told otherwise.

"I was pleased by what exactly?" Pippin asks. Apparently he has joined Faramir and Merry in the hall.

"Faramir was just telling me about Errol's title," Merry said. "I hear he's come up in the world and is now the Thain's Rabbit."

"That was Diamond's doing," Pippin says in an embarrassed tone and I hear Merry laughing. "You should be in bed, Faramir," Pippin says over the laughter. "Your mum was looking for you a bit ago. She sent me to find you."

"Do I have to go to bed now? Dernhelm and Éowyn and I were going to go outside and count the stars."

"You need to find your mum and see if she'll agree to that," Pippin said. I couldn't hear Merry laughing now so I suppose his amusement has died down for the present.

"Do you think she'll agree to it?' Faramir asks.

"I suspect that she might allow it for an hour or so if you ask her nicely. She and your Aunt Estella are in the kitchen. Go in there and find out," Pippin says and I hear the sound of Faramir running down the hall to find Diamond. I know that she will agree. She always does. She and Pippin are not very strict when it comes to the lad.

Freddy shifts slightly as Merry and Pippin come into the room. "Behold," Merry whispers. "The Thain's Rabbit and the Master's son are asleep on the sofa."

Pippin nudges Merry in the ribs and blushes slightly. He looks at me with a small, rather sad smile and then turns to Merry. I suppose this will be the talk that I have suspected might be coming. "Merry, I'd like to give Errol to Freddy," Pippin says slowly.

"You what?" Merry is surprised.

"You heard me," Pippin says.

"I heard you but you've caught me off my guard here, Pip," Merry says. "I didn't think anything or anyone could part you from that Rabbit."

"I am far too old for a Rabbit and I have been for ages now," Pippin says. "Besides, Freddy likes Errol. The two of them will be fine together." His voice is calm and he looks as if he is doing nothing more than giving away the parlour sofa. I am impressed. Pippin is not usually this talented at hiding his true feelings. I know he regrets our parting.

"Pip, what if Freddy loses Errol? What if he ruins him? I mean you've had that Rabbit since you were a baby," Merry says. "I would have thought that you might pass it on to Faramir."

"Merry, Freddy will do a fine job of taking care of Errol. Besides, I don't know exactly why but Errol does seem to be made of stronger stuff than most toys. He's held up quite well and he survived my childhood so I am sure that Freddy's won't be too much of a strain on him." Pippin smiled. "Faramir is not the sort of lad who needs a stuffed Rabbit but I think that Freddy is the perfect one to give Errol to."

Merry looked over at Freddy and I for a moment and then he looked back at Pippin. He studied his younger cousin intently before speaking. "If you are quite sure then when we leave for Buckland, the Thain's Rabbit will come with us on loan," Merry said. "When Freddy tires of Errol or out-grows him then I will return Errol to you."

"That will be splendid," Pippin said smiling wider. "But if Freddy should have a lad of his own that he wants to give Errol to-"

"The Thain's Rabbit belongs in the Great Smials, Peregrin," Merry said seriously. "He is welcome to visit Buckland, but I am sure he will want to return home at some point."

"I suspect he will," Pippin said thoughtfully. He looked over at me for a second and then he left the room.

Merry came over to the sofa and sighed. "I don't know how I know this, but I think this is all your doing, Errol. It seems that no matter how hard I try to avoid it, I always wind up with you."

Merry is only partly correct. Some of this is my doing. I have enjoyed my week here at the Great Smials with Freddy. I was growing bored. It is difficult to be the stuffed Rabbit to the Thain but it is quite simple to be the stuffed Rabbit to the Master's son. Children are less complicated and they also are willing to take you along on their adventures and tell you about their secrets and dreams. I have missed that. I think Pippin knows that I need to be with a child again. I will always miss my Pippin but Freddy will make a fine, new friend.

Merry gently lifts Freddy into his arms taking me along for the ride. As he carries us down the hall he says, "You may be 'The Thain's Rabbit' around here but don't be getting any ideas about becoming Master of Buckland or anything. That job is filled." I like Merry. He is bossy, practical, a bit vain, and a terrible tease, but he is still the finest caretaker of any Hobbit I have ever known. Little Freddy is a lucky lad. Now, if only I can make my peace with Estella.

***  
Minas Tirith in 1484

The King stands and comes forward with his arms open. He is an imposing sight. Such power and majesty I have not beheld in many long years. In spite of his regal bearing and formal attire it is his kind eyes that I notice. He bends down and wraps his arms around Merry and Pippin and he laughs. "My dear, dear, friends! It is so very good to see you again."

"We've missed you too, Strider," Pippin says hugging the man tightly.

"We've had a long journey but it wasn't as difficult as the first time we came to Minas Tirith," Merry says also hugging the King of Gondor.

The King pulls back from the pair and eyes them kindly. "I was very sorry to hear about King Éomer. He was a fine man."

Merry wipes a tear from his cheek and smiles. "He died quietly among friends and family. It was what he wanted. I was very glad that we were able to make it to his side in time."

Pippin reaches over and pats Merry's shoulder. "It has been a long journey but we are very glad to be here with you again, Strider."

"And Minas Tirith shall be glad to hear of your return," Aragorn smiled.

"And Merry's too I suspect," Pippin grinned.

"He meant both of us," Merry says tartly. Pippin is obviously trying to lighten the mood a bit.

"Well, I am the Ernil i Pheriannath, you know," Pippin reminds him.

"Then you are indeed the oldest Prince of the Halflings that there has ever been, Peregrin," Merry smirks.

"I see that in spite of the passing years nothing has changed between the two of you," Aragorn laughs.

"I see our guests have arrived," a lovely female voice says and suddenly I am startled beyond any reasonable thought. I see her from my place in Pippin's pack. Arwen!

"Your Ladyship," Pippin grins, turning to face her and stealing my view. He bows and I take that opportunity to slide out of his pack. I had worked my way to the top over the past few days and my head was already sticking out anyway.

"Oh, my," Arwen says, bending to pick me up. She starts to hand me back to Pippin and then she recognizes me and she pulls me close to her so that she might be sure. "Pippin, where did you get this Rabbit?" she asks unable to take her eyes from me.

"It's a long story but the shorter version of it is that an Aunt of mine gave it to me for her birthday when I was ten," Merry says. "I was too old for such nonsense as stuffed Rabbits and Pippin was only a baby. He wanted the Rabbit for some reason and so I gave it to him. He's had it since, with the exception of the time the Rabbit spent in the company of my youngest child, Fredegar. Then my son gave the Rabbit to his oldest child for a time but that didn't seem to work out." Merry is, once again understating the situation.

"Then Merry kept him for a time for reasons that I have yet to hear properly explained," Pippin broke in arching an eyebrow.

"I simply forgot to return it," Merry says. "Besides, I did think that you were a bit old for a stuffed Rabbit by that time, Peregrin."

"I doubt that one can ever grow too old for companionship, even if that companion is a stuffed Rabbit," Arwen said softly. Her wisdom, I know, comes from her father who is almost as imposing as Merry's wife Estella was.

Pippin smiles brightly at her and nods. He then scowls at Merry. "Besides, you did say that you planned to return him once Fred had out-grown him."

"And it was you who said that if Fred decided to give the Rabbit to one of his children, which he did, that it was fine with you," Merry reminds Pippin. Merry does have a very sharp mind and he can always recall details that Pippin chooses to ignore.

"All the same, you had him for a very long time," Pippin frowns. He then turns to Arwen who is still holding me, and he smiles a bit shyly. "I wasn't intending on bringing him with me," Pippin says in an embarrassed tone. "But Merry brought the Rabbit back to me just before we were to leave on our journey. I guess you could say it was Merry's idea to bring him."

Arwen looks away from me now and over at Merry and Pippin. She is suppressing a giggle.

"I returned him to you," Merry says affronted. "You put him in your pack. It is your Rabbit after all and it was your idea to bring him."

The King looks vastly amused. I noticed that the eyes of everyone in the entire throne room are on us now. As is often the case, when I travel with Pippin we tend to draw attention. I suppose this time it is my fault for sliding out of the pack but I simply couldn't allow an old friend to pass me unnoticed. I have not seen Arwen in forever and with Elves forever is an entirely possible length of time.

"I gave him to Freddy," Pippin says.

"Freddy is also too old for stuffed Rabbits," Merry says. "I returned him to you just as I promised all those years ago." They are bickering like they sometimes do but I have eyes only for Arwen.

"How in the name of all wonder did you become a Shire Rabbit?" she asks me. It is a very good question and a very interesting tale. She strokes my ears and smiles at me.

"You know this Rabbit?" Merry asks in surprise, breaking off the bickering. He and Pippin are now looking up at Arwen.

"I do indeed," she smiles. "My Ada gave him to me when I was a very little girl. I thought that he was lost but I see instead that he was merely travelling a bit." She bends down to them and she is still stroking my ears tenderly.

"Errol can't be that old!" Pippin blurts out.

Awen laughs as Pippin blushes realizing what he has just said. "Well, I mean, he's a stuffed Rabbit. He can't have lasted all those years and still look so, well, so new. He never seems to wear like other toys do and he's been through my rather adventurous childhood and then through Merry's son's childhood yet he's held up quite well. Still I hardly think that it would be possible for him to have been your Rabbit too," Pippin says. He sounds slightly territorial as he often does when speaking about me or Merry. As far as Pippin is concerned I can't possibly have belonged to anyone before I was in his company.

Arwen smiles. "See the small tag." She holds me over to Pippin and extends the tag, which he has never bothered to read in all these long years. I suspect that is because he has always regarded me as more than a toy. The tag does not fit with his ideas about me.

He leans forward and looks intently at it squinting slightly. His eyes are not what they once were but they are still keen enough for close reading. Merry is leaning over and looking also. "What does it say, Pip?" he asks.

"How should I know? It's," Pippin pauses and then looks up at Arwen and me in amazement. "It's Elvish!"

Arwen nods.

"Errol is your Rabbit then?" Pippin asks looking like he has just lost his dearest friend. Well, his dearest stuffed friend at least.

"He was my Rabbit a very long time ago," Arwen smiles. She kneels before Pippin and then looks down at me. "He is your Rabbit now and I would not part him from you. My time with him is long past and though it is very good to see him again, he is not mine any longer."

Pippin looks at her with relief and she hands me back to him. "It's only that I have grown used to Errol being mine," he says. "I know it is also past the time for this Hobbit to have a stuffed Rabbit but I do think that he belongs with me for a while yet." He looks down at me as if seeking my approval. Merry reaches over and places a hand on Pippin's shoulder.

"Exactly my thoughts," Merry says. "Which is precisely why I returned him to you when I did."

Pippin snorts. "I knew you'd find a way to take credit for this."

"However he came to be here, I am very pleased," Arwen says diplomatically.

"May I ask what his name was when you had him?" Pippin ventures. I do think he has always wondered if he and Merry were correct in calling me Errol.

Arwen smiles and leans over to whisper in Pippin's ear. I can just make out her lovely voice saying my long-ago name as Pippin listens. She is also kind enough to translate for him, as he does not understand the meaning. "Really?"

"Yes, that was his name," she says.

He looks at me. "That certainly seems to suit him but I don't think that I could learn to call him that."

"I actually prefer Errol now that I hear it," Arwen says. I agree with her completely on this though it was nice to hear my original name again if only in a whispered tone.

"What was his name, Pip?" Merry asks.

Pippin smiles mysteriously. I suspect that he will tell Merry later but not just yet, as the secret is far too delicious not to keep for a while longer. The King does not ask and I am surprised by his restraint, but then he is a King after all.

"Well?" Merry prods.

"His name is Errol," Pippin says. "Now, if you've no more foolish questions, Meriadoc I'd like to find out if Strider has anything prepared for luncheon. I'm hungry."

" Fine," Merry agrees giving the King a long suffering look and then sighing deeply. "I have never been one to delay a meal. I am more than ready to fill up my corners. I am very sure that there is an excellent story behind all of this but it can wait until I am properly fed." He then glances at me and then mutters softly, "An Elvish stuffed Rabbit."

And so I am. But that is another story for another time and just now is not that time.

***  
1499 The Shire

 

He is stunned to see me again for I am like some ghost returned to him from a past that he remembers fondly. He runs his fingers through my fur reverently and a small, sad smile forms on his lips. He looks down at the letter again and reads the words that I know by heart. I was present when they were written.

Dear Faramir,

I know that I wrote to you of your father's passing some years ago and at that time I sent most of his possessions to you. I am sorry to have kept this one for so long but both Arwen and I were unsure as to if we should return it. I will not go into the details here. Perhaps if we are able to meet in the not too distant future I will have a story to tell you then. For the present, I am sending this letter and this Rabbit back to your keeping. After considerable thought on the matter it was decided that this is indeed the property of the Tooks.  
.

Faramir's reading is interrupted by a small Hobbit lad of no more than four years. The little lad has remarkable green eyes, light auburn curls and a pointed nose. He runs to Faramir and reaches his hands up so that he might be picked up and held. Faramir does not disappoint the lad. He lifts him into his arms and puts the letter on the table near one of my feet.

"Papa!" the child crows. This surprises me, for the child is so very young and Faramir is getting on in years. I watch him hold the child tenderly as his own father once held him.

"My darling child," Faramir smiles and he tweaks the end of the little lad's nose. "What are you doing in my office at this time of day?"

"Hiding," the child whispers.

"From whom?" Faramir asks, amused.

The child giggles. "Everyone," he says and then he reaches out toward me and laughs. It is a glorious sound and it transports me back to my Pippin's childhood. "Bunny!"

"Yes," Faramir says.

"Can I haf him?" the four-year-old Took asks.

Faramir studies me and then looks at the little child in his arms. "I suppose you are the only member of this family that should have him," he says. "This is-"

"Errol!" the child interrupts and reaches for me with both hands.

Faramir doesn't question how the child might know my name, he just hands me to the little lad. The child squeezes me tightly and says, "There you are! Where haf you been? I was waiting."

Tooks just seem to know things. That much hasn't changed. This little imp is most assuredly a Took. His name is Peregrin after his grandfather whom he never met but whom he mirrors in so many ways that I sometimes forget that he is the second Peregrin rather than the first one. He is that happy occurrence in a Hobbit's life; the child who comes very late and is completely unexpected. Faramir and Goldilocks were long past the age when most Hobbits have children when this dear child made his appearance. He is full of laughter and sunshine and surprises all his own. I am home again here in the Shire in the arms of a child who loves me.

 

The End

 

Errol with assistance from Grey_wonderer 06/25/2006


	7. Very Nearly The Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit about Errol's past before he came to live in the Shire with Pippin.
> 
> **Thanks go to Llinos not only for the Beta, but for the title of this story, the Elvish translation, and for supplying names for the mortal children because, after all of this time, Errol has completely forgotten their real names.

Prologue for this chapter:

Beta by Llinos  
*****

Minis Tirith, in the year 1484

"You know this stuffed rabbit?" Merry asked in surprise. He and Pippin were now looking at Arwen.

"I do indeed," she smiled. "My Ada gave him to me when I was a very little girl. I thought that he was lost but I see instead that he was merely travelling a bit." As she spoke she continued stroking the stuffed grey rabbit's ears tenderly.

"Errol can't be that old!" Pippin blurted out.

Awen laughed as Pippin blushed realizing what he had just said. "Well, I mean, he's a stuffed Rabbit. He can't have lasted all those years and still look so, well, so new. He never seems to wear out like other toys do and he's been through my rather adventurous childhood and then through Merry's son's childhood yet he's held up quite well. Still, I hardly think that it would be possible for him to have been your Rabbit too," Pippin said. He sounded slightly territorial as he often did when speaking about Errol or Merry. As far as Pippin was concerned the stuffed rabbit could not possibly have belonged to anyone else.

Arwen smiled. "See the small tag." She held the rabbit over for Pippin's inspection and extended the tag, which he had never bothered to read. Merry suspected that it was because Pippin had always regarded Errol as more than a toy. The tag would have seemed unimportant to him.

Pippin leaned forward and looked intently at it squinting slightly. His eye sight was not what it had once been but it was still keen enough for close reading. Merry was also leaning over and looking. "What does it say, Pip?" he asked.

"How should I know? It's," Pippin paused and then looked at Arwen in amazement. "It's Elvish!"

Arwen nodded, smiling.

"Errol is your Rabbit then?" Pippin frowned looking like he had just lost his dearest friend. Well, his dearest stuffed friend at least.

"He *was* my Rabbit a very long time ago," Arwen smiled. She looked lovingly at the toy. "He is your Rabbit now and I would not part him from you. My time with him is long past and though it is very good to see him again, he is not mine any longer."

Pippin looked at her with relief and she handed Errol back to him. "It's only that I have grown used to Errol being mine," he said still slightly embarrassed. "I know it is also past time for an old Hobbit like me to have a stuffed rabbit but I do think that he belongs with me for a while yet." He looked down at the grey bunny. Merry reached over and placed a hand on Pippin's shoulder.

"Exactly my thoughts," Merry said gently.

"May I ask what his name was when you had him?" Pippin ventured.

Arwen leaned over to whisper in Pippin's ear and at first she spoke in Elvish. Pippin listened intently. She was also kind enough to translate the meaning of the name for him, since he did not understand enough Elvish to translate it himself. He looked at her thoughtfully and then nodded in approval. "Really?"

"Yes, that was his name when he was my rabbit," she said.

Pippin studied the rabbit. "That certainly seems to suit him but I don't think that I could learn to call him that."

"I actually prefer Errol now that I hear it," Arwen said.

"What *was* his name, Pip?" Merry asked looking interested.

Pippin smiled mysteriously. He would tell Merry later but not just yet. The secret was far too delicious not to keep for a while longer.

"Well?" Merry insisted.

"His name is Errol," Pippin said looking slightly cheeky. "Now, if you've no more foolish questions, Meriadoc I'd like to find out if Strider has anything prepared for luncheon. I'm hungry."

" Fine," Merry agreed, giving the King a long suffering look and then sighing deeply. "I have never been one to delay a meal. I am more than ready to fill up my corners. I am very sure that there is an excellent story behind all of this but it can wait until I am properly fed." He glanced at the rabbit and muttered softly rolling his eyes, "An Elvish stuffed Rabbit."

And so he was. But that is another story for another time...

*********This is a slightly altered portion of "Freddy and The Thain's Rabbit" which was originally written for Marigold's Challenge 30 and which was Beta'd by Marigold. (Any mistakes found within this excerpt are due to my slight revision of the text and are not to be blamed on the beta.)

 

*****************************************************

Beta by Llinos

Very nearly the beginning…

There were three of them in the small clearing. All three were male and one was slightly shorter than the other two. That one was plump and probably younger though she could not actually tell. If she had been asked to guess then she would have said he was younger. It was very difficult to be certain. Her thoughts were interrupted when one of her brothers placed a hand on her arm and whispered in a voice so light that it mingled with the wind in the branches of the trees. "We are too far from home. If we are caught then we will incur displeasure."

She shrugged his hand off and leaned further around the trunk of the great elm tree so that she might see the three children in the clearing better. "They will see you," her brother hissed.

"No, they will not," she said smiling. "They never do. I come here and watch all the time and I have never been discovered. Mortal children play here. I have not seen these before but I have watched others. Be still now. I want to see what they are doing. One of them has something."

She felt him lean even further out from their hiding place than she. He scowled. "What does it matter what they have? They are only mere children."

Her laugh was musical and soft. It floated lightly on the breeze and for a moment the three male children in the clearing stopped and seemed to search for the source of the sound. They were quickly distracted however and continued with their play. "Go home if you like. I care not. I should never have brought you along," she said dismissively and the young lad next to her frowned at her. She did not notice because her attention was completely on the children now. As they watched one of the children in the clearing spoke:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Put it by the base of that tree," the tallest one instructed.

The plump one hesitated and held the object close to his chest. "Maybe we should use something else as the target. This won't show up well against the base of the tree. It's nearly the same colour."

"Don't be a baby," the tall lad said, irritated. He reached over and pulled the item from the shorter lad's arms and held it aloft. "You're too old for this anyway and it really is all we have."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What are they saying?" her brother whispered.

"They speak Westron I think," she said. "I believe they are arguing but I cannot understand all they say."

From above them in the very top branches of the tree a light voice called out, "The big one wants to do something with that toy he is holding but I believe it belongs to the smaller one and he is not exactly in favour of the plan."

She smiled up at her other brother. "You have ever been clever with language, Elladan. You make me feel dull."

"He made that up," the brother standing beside her said. "He does not know any more than we do about…"

"Hush, Elrohir," she ordered sharply. "I want to hear what they plan to do with the toy."

"We will not be able to understand," Elrohir mumbled looking up at his brother. An identical face peered back at him and smiled gloatingly from the treetop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"But it will blend in. It's as grey as the tree," the plump one was saying and he reached for the toy.

"Stop whining," the third child said smacking the plump one on the top of the head. "I have my arrow ready. Let Bob put it by the tree and then get out of the way or I'll shoot you too." He pointed his drawn bow in the lad's direction and the child backed reluctantly away.

"You aren't really going to shoot it are you?" he asked in a quavering voice wringing his hands as he spoke.

"It's a rabbit and I'm a hunter," the lad announced. He looked over at Bob who was arranging the toy at the base of the tree. "Hurry up, Bob! My arm is starting to cramp."

Bob ran out of the way leaving the toy to its fate and called, "Give it your best, Fred, but if you miss I can have a go with my catapult."

"I won't miss," Fred bragged and he lined up for the shot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arwen put a hand over her mouth to keep from gasping and watched as the one that the others seemed to be calling Fred took aim at the small, grey, stuffed rabbit sitting at the base of the elm. Its intelligent eyes seemed to look at her pleadingly and then one of the rabbit's ears fell over its eyes just as the lad shot his arrow. It was as if the toy didn't want to watch. She didn't either but was unable to look away.

"Missed," Elrohir said. "The lad has no skill with a bow. He was lucky to hit the tree."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"My turn! You missed!" Bob shouted and he quickly pulled a catapult and a large stone from his pocket. "Watch this!"

"You should let me get my arrow," Fred complained. "What if you hit it and break the shaft?"

"I'll not hit it," Bob said. "I'm aiming at Titch's bunny." With that he closed one eye and seemed to be sighting his target. The other ear dropped over the small rabbit's eyes and the stone flew through the air smacking the tree where the rabbit's ear had been only seconds before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"He missed," she said breathing a sigh of relief.

"Do not worry, Arwen," Elladan said. "It is not a real rabbit. It is only a toy. They cannot harm it."

"There is something very cruel about all of this even if the rabbit is not real," Arwen objected a little too loudly and all three children in the clearing looked in their direction but did not catch sight of them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"My turn again," Fred said grinning and pulling his arrow from the tree. After doing so, he reached down and rearranged the rabbit into a standing position with both ears straight up against the tree. "Now, it's a better target." He turned with the arrow in his hand and headed back to the other two.

"I think I've changed my mind," the plump child said as Fred made ready to shoot.

"Don't be a baby, Titch," Fred said scornfully. "You're too old for a toy rabbit and so now the rabbit is target practice. Some day when I kill a real rabbit for our supper then you'll be glad of this day."

"Stay out of his way, Titch," Bob ordered and he pulled the younger lad to one side. "If his shot should go wild then it'll be you rather than that silly rabbit that gets shot."

As the arrow left Fred's bow again the rabbit fell sideways onto the grass beneath the tree and Bob laughed. "It dodged your shot! The rabbit hopped out of the way the tricky little thing! My turn again."

Fred scowled and stalked over to the tree. "I'll fix this!" He knelt down and began doing something but Arwen was unable to see as the lad was blocking her view.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What is he doing?" Arwen whispered up to Elrohir who had a much better view from up in the tree.

"He has taken his pocket knife and pinned one of the rabbit's ears to the tree with it," Elrohir explained. "Driven the blade through the ear and into the trunk. It should hold but with his lack of skill with a bow he will never hit it."

Arwen looked pale and leaned out further as the lad backed away and the one with the slingshot took aim again. This time the lad's stone sailed true and he hit the toy just below one bright button eye.

"I got it! I hit it! I'm the best shot! It is I who will be killing rabbits for our supper," he said dancing about in a circle while the smallest lad hid his face in his hands as if pained.

"You only hit it because I secured it in place for you," Fred said. "Watch this! My last shot was ruined because the wind moved the rabbit before my arrow had a chance to find its mark."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elrohir snorted. "He would have missed anyway. He was completely off target. I do not think he could hit the ground if he shot straight down.

Grinning up at his brother, Elladan reached over and began to climb nimbly up the tree without making a sound or missing a branch. "Mortals cannot shoot," he said when he had reached a limb just below his brother and seated himself to watch Fred's next attempt.

Elrohir reached down and playfully tugged at his twin's delicate pointed ear. "Pay attention. You might learn some Westron if you listen."

"This is not a lesson," Elladan objected swiping at his brother's hand.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Fire!" Fred shouted and both twins were so startled by the shout that they nearly tumbled out of the tree. Arwen ducked down into the bushes next to the base of the tree thinking that they might have been spotted. Their Ada had told them not to be seen by the mortals. He was very firm on this point and she knew that they would be punished if he found them this far from home but worse still would be the punishment if they were seen.

Just as Fred fired off his shot, Titch lunged at him in an effort to stop him. "Don't shoot him! I want him back!" Titch pleaded. His efforts to distract his brother's shot caused both of them to land in a tangle on the ground and Arwen heard a snap as the bow broke.

There was the sound of a solid thunk as the arrow hit its target, which it would not have done had Titch not interfered. Elladan pointed out, "The shot was way off the mark until the fat one pushed the bigger one."

"You hit it!" Bob cried in delight and disbelief. "You hit it right in the chest! Stuffed rabbit stew for everyone!"

Titch let out a wail. "You've killed him!"

"He's a stuffed rabbit! He can't be killed. He wasn't alive," Bob objected.

"Never mind that! He's broken my bow! Da will kill me when he sees," Fred said shoving the younger lad to the ground and getting to his feet with the damaged bow in his hands. "Now, just for that, I am going to get my flint out and set the rabbit on fire!"

"Daro!"

Both twins looked down and saw that Arwen was now standing directly in view of the lads, her hand full of stones, her eyes blazing with furry.

"Arwen!" they both shouted but she ignored them and took aim at the three startled lads in the clearing. She began to pelt them with stones as she shouted at them in Sindarin.

"Daro! Daro!" She cried. "Harno avam ún tithen near! Hín baug!"

"Run!" Bob yelled pushing Titch ahead of him.

"But I want to get my rabbit," the younger lad whined. Both of the older boys grabbed his arms and began dragging him from the clearing and into the trees as Arwen's well-placed missiles landed at their heels. She was aiming just as close to them as she was able without actually hitting them. Her Ada had taught them that mortals were easily injured and did not always heal. It was a grave transgression to kill a mortal without proper cause and she knew full well that however cruel she might think their actions had been, her Ada would not see the justification for killing them.

Elladan and Elrohir were quickly on either side of their younger sister watching as she drove the mortal children into the woods with her attack. Then when all her stones were gone and the sound of the clumsy mortals thrashing through the undergrowth had died to a faint noise, Arwen hurried over to the tree and knelt in front of it. He lovely silk dress fanned out on the ground about her as she gently pulled the knife from the grey rabbit's ear and watched as the ear fell over one eye. The other eye seemed to peer at her as she tossed the knife into the grass beyond the trees.

"I might have wanted that," Elladan objected. " I hear that some of the mortals have interesting blades and I have never seen one up close."

"I can see it if you want it," Elrohir offered and he pointed in the direction where his sister had thrown the knife.

"I see it," Elladan sighed. "That is not the point. The point is that she is being thoughtless again." The two young elf lads watched as their sister stared at the rabbit, which was held fast to the trunk of the tree by the arrow. Tears slid down her face and she was so still that it frightened the twins. Arwen was not the sort to care for such things as stuffed toys. Had this been a live animal then all three children might have been in tears but this was a mere toy.

"Arwen?" Elrohir whispered. "We have to go. We are late and it is not safe out in the open. Others might see. Adult mortals may come when they hear the children's cries."

"Let us go before-" But Elladan did not have a chance to complete his thought. A firm hand fell on his shoulder and on Elrohir's shoulder. Both lads stiffened and went silent. As if they were but one child, they looked up to see their Ada standing behind them frowning.

Unaware of this, Arwen reached out a trembling hand and very carefully began to move the arrow up and down to loosen it. She did not want to further damage the small stuffed rabbit and so she was very cautious. Sensing that his daughter was upset and might be startled if he spoke, Elrond remained quiet holding both of his young sons in place. He watched curiously as Arwen freed the arrow from the tree and then gently pulled the toy into her lap. The arrow had gone completely through the small rabbit and was still sticking out on either side. Arwen was crying softly and entreating the Valar for the rabbit to be healed.

The twins exchanged confused looks. Both were becoming more concerned about their sister with each passing moment, so much so that they had nearly forgotten the trouble they were in. With a stern glance and a wave of his hand, their Ada brought them both back to the moment. They knew that he was motioning them to return home ahead of him. Elladan was reluctant to leave Arwen but Elrohir took his brother's arm and pulled him away. It was obvious to him that their Ada would have to see to Arwen now. Something was wrong and neither he nor Elladan could deal with it.

As his sons passed quietly from view into the trees, Elrond knelt beside his daughter and spoke gently to her. "Arwen, my dear one, are you injured?"

She shook her head. "No, but some mortals were destroying this toy, Ada. It was dreadful. It is so small and sad and now I think it is beyond repair." She leaned back and allowed him to inspect the toy while she looked on hopefully.

"Give it to me, Arwen," he said firmly. "When we arrive home I may be able to remove the arrow without tearing it further. If so, then all that will be needed are a few stitches and perhaps a little more padding to fill it out." He looked at the poor thing. "It is rather ill-used I fear and very tattered. It has not been properly cared for."

"Those wicked mortal lads were shooting at it as if it were a target, Ada," Arwen said allowing him to help her to her feet. She looked at the toy in his hands and sniffled. "Please can you not pull the arrow out now?"

Seeing her distress and fearing what sort of violence she might have seen in this clearing, Elrond took his knife from its sheath at his waist and holding the toy firmly, he proceeded to cut the arrowhead from the shaft. Then being careful not to further tear the worn fabric, he slowly pulled the arrow from the small, grey, rabbit. As the arrow slid free he heard his daughter release a sigh of relief. He placed the toy in her arms and then put a hand on her shoulder. "Come home, my child," he said gently but in a tone that brooked no argument. "We have some matters to discuss, you and I."

Arwen nodded and cradling the toy rabbit like one might a new baby, she walked quietly along the path towards home.

*****

Arwen looked up at her Ada. She was seated on a cushion on the floor of her room with a book in her hands. She had not been allowed out for days now. It seemed a very long time but her Ada had been very upset with all three of them once he had learned the full story involving the small grey rabbit. All three children had been confined to the house until further notice and extra tasks had been given. All of that was very upsetting but far more upsetting in Arwen's eyes was the fact that her Ada had taken the little grey rabbit from her. He had told her that it was unfair for her to receive something that she wanted as a result of her disobedience. She had not seen the toy since that first day. He had promised to have it repaired but he had not returned it to her. "It was not yours to begin with, Arwen," he had said. "And had you been where you were supposed to be it would not have come into your possession at all, now would it?"

"No, Ada," she had said mournfully. She had given up her tiny treasure reluctantly but she at least had his promise that the rabbit would be repaired. It troubled her to be able to see the stuffing protruding from its chest and the hole in the right ear where the knife had held it to the tree. Its other hurts were obviously from years of abuse at the hands of mortal children or perhaps, as her Ada had suggested, the toy had been loved too dearly by someone and had become worn. Arwen was not certain how too much love could damage a toy but Ada always spoke the truth so it must be possible or he would not have said it.

Now he stood before her looking very solemn and very important. He had on his formal robe and so that must mean that he had been in council with the elders or perhaps he had been involved in teaching his healing arts to someone. Her Ada was most important and he bore a great deal of responsibility. Few questioned him but many demanded much of him. Great Wizards and mortal Kings and folk of other races came to ask for her Ada's help or council. She was proud to be his daughter. She stood and looked at him now and waited. Perhaps there was more punishment to come or perhaps he was there to help her with her lessons.

"Arwen, I have something to show you," he said. There was no smile on his face and so Arwen did not know if what he planned to show her was something good or something not so good.

"What is it, Ada?"

He brought something wrapped in silk cloth of a delicate pink from beneath his robes and held it. "Before I give this to you I must put a stipulation upon it," he said seriously.

She waited looking curiously at the lovely pink material. It shimmered in the sunlight that was coming through her windows. The sunlight made Arwen aware of her current confinement and seemed to tease her from beyond her room. Even now it played across the material as if to remind her that she was being kept indoors for the crime of showing herself to mortals and attacking the same mortals with stones. She sighed.

"If I allow you to keep this then you must do so as a reminder of what dangers lie outside of your home," he said. "This is a thing made by mortals and it has come to you through your misdeeds but I think it might serve to help you recall how very dangerous mortals can be for one so young and inexperienced with the world as you." He handed her the pink bundle and then watched as she unwrapped it.

Arwen's face glowed. It was the rabbit! And yet, it was not the rabbit at all. There was something different. The ears had been repaired and the lining within them was soft to the touch. The rabbit's grey fur was clean and soft and looked almost like new. The tiny, pink button nose seemed to catch the sunlight. She ran a hand over the chest of the toy examining it for signs of the arrow wound but could find none. For a second a shadow crossed her face as the thought occurred to her that this could not be the same rabbit. Then she caught sight of the button eyes with their unique pinkish colouring and their dark black centres filled with the glint of intelligence that she had seen briefly while removing the stuffed rabbit from the tree. She smiled. This was the little grey rabbit from the clearing. He had been repaired and perhaps a thing or two had been changed slightly but deep inside this was still the very same rabbit. She looked into its eyes and she knew this at once.

"It took much work as the toy was badly damaged. There is much new stuffing, though some of the old yet remains," her Ada was saying. "Being proud of her work, the seamstress has given your rabbit a tag which she sewed over the original one. This one gives her name and officially makes this an elvish toy rather than a thing of mortals."

Arwen fingered the tag absently and continued to look into the intelligent eyes of the rabbit. "He is not all new then?"

"No, much remains of what he was, in fact most of the original toy was saved," her Ada said. "It has just been improved upon and cleaned and repaired. This small rabbit lost a great deal of stuffing from his injury in that clearing."

'The clearing?' I put my rabbit ears up to think on this phrase. If I try I can almost recall it but it is very fuzzy and hides just out of my reach. I was somewhere else before. I belonged to someone else, or did I? Things are muddled and I am unsure. Even my name dances out of my reach and I am unable to call it back. Still, I know this child. I knew her at once. This one has held me before so surely I must be hers. She holds me close and I feel secure here. I am a bit uncertain on some points but I know this is a good child with a good heart. Stuffed Rabbits can tell these things. I feel safe with her as if she has rescued me from something in another time.

Arwen smiled and hugged the rabbit to her. "I may have him? Are you giving him to me?" She let the pink satin fall to the floor and ignored it. She had her rabbit back and the material, while pretty, was unimportant.

"You may keep this if you will promise to stay within the safety of Rivendell unless I give you leave to do otherwise," her Ada said. "When you look at this rabbit think of how those mortal children behaved and then imagine them as adults. I want only your safety my dear one. You would not be safe among that sort and neither would your brothers. I know that you led them to the clearing and your adventurous spirit could have cost all three of you your lives. We are immortal but we are not incapable of being killed."

She is looking at me and I try hard to recall 'these mortal children' that her Ada speaks of but I can only see a small, round, face with sad eyes. I block this out because whoever this was and whatever he might mean to me, I can sense that not all things associated with that sad child are pleasant.

"Will you do this for me?" Her Ada asked.

Arwen looked at the rabbit and it seemed to be deep in thought, though she knew this is not so and nodded. "I promise, Ada," Arwen said. Then she rushed forward and hugged him tightly with the rabbit between them.

I feel a bit crushed but it is not in a bad way. This is love and I am among those that love me and know my worth. I am of Elvish make, an important toy made for the daughter of Elrond, Half Elven of Rivendell. I am an Elvish Rabbit. On nights when I feel a sharp pain in my chest or dream dark dreams of another place amid cruel and careless folks I push those thoughts aside as I lie in the arms of this most amazing child of the Elves who is special to all that know her. As time passes I come to think of those dark before things less often until they are but vague dreams to me, memories lost that are now only shadows that sometimes cross my mind. When Arwen whispers my name in my ear she chases the cold fear away; the fear that comes when the random memories try to get in. If I were to tell others of myself, and I would not, I would say that I began here among the Elves for I think much of me did.

The End

GW 06/24/2008

*Stop! Stop!" She cried. "Harm not the sad little creature! Bad children!"

**Thanks go to Llinos not only for the Beta, but for the title of this story, the Elvish translation, and for supplying names for the mortal children because, after all of this time, Errol has completely forgotten their real names.

***'Thank you also to KnittedMerry who just 'knows secret things about rabbits that others fail to notice.'

****This story is dedicated to Marigold on her birthday with love from Errol.


End file.
